Love, Demons and Bloodlines
by Shang
Summary: Naruto returns to Konoha after his twoyear training. Now new challenges awaits him. Not only those of skills, but also those of heart. Pairing inside. Please read and review. It'd mean a lot. On HATIUS, sorry
1. Returning Home

Okay, it's me with another, 'Naruto' fic. This time no OC's (later few will appear, but this one will be all about the old crew). Also, this is my first, true attemp on romance.

The first chapter is short compared to those I've planned so far. Also, I'd like you to treat it more as an introduction: both action and romance will appear in the next chapter. As usual, you can count on some drama and humor as well (I do my best to keep my fics in the spirit of original 'Naruto').

**Pairing (for those who are interested, coz I think it's much of a spoiler):** NarutoxHinata, NejixTenten, SasukexSakura, ShikamaruxTemari... and few other, minor pairs (some still not decided).

Now, without further to do, I give you the first chapter of "Love, Demons and Bloodlines". Hope you like it. Please leave a review when you're finish, coz I'd really love to hear your opinion (and I wonder if it'll be worth to continue this fic).

**Chapter #1: Returning Home**

The sun was already high as two figures were getting closer to the Hidden village of the Leaf. They took their time, enjoying the surrounding. The whole area was filled with tree of all sorts and their tops were covering in shadows most of the road.

As they reached the town's gate, the saw two, large, wooden wings of the entrance wide open. When the gates were closed, the travelers could easily read an 'A-hym' sign, which meant to keep the demons away from the village. But as the smaller one of the two looked back, it didn't really help the Leaf.

"It doesn't seem like it changed a lot, does it?" asked the taller traveler with long, white hair with red markings on his face. He was wearing mostly white and had an unusual headband on his forehead. 'I know you wanna do it…' he announced.

The smaller one just smiled under his nose. He had blonde, spiky hair and sky-blue eyes. He was wearing a black and orange dress and had a hitae-ate with a leaf on his forehead. But what really drew attention in him were probably whisker marks he had on both his cheeks.

The blonde dropped his traveling bag on the ground and jumped onto the nearest roof, to look down on the village. In front of his eyes were hundreds of buildings and people were living their lives, unaware of the young man looking from above on them. '_This place really haven't changed one bit_' he thought with a smile as his eyes went to the Hokage monument. Only this time there were five faces on it. '_So that old bat ordered to add her face, eh? Sorry guys, if I was here I'd stop her…_' and with that thought he smiled even wider.

"We should report our arrival" reminded the older man. "Besides, I'm pretty sure Tsunade would like to see you again. It's been over two years now…"

"Guess so…" nodded the blonde. "Though I wish to say 'hi' to few people before that…"

"You can do it after words. The Fifth would kill me if she'd find out we did came to her first."

"Alright…" replied the whisker-marks as he picked up his bag and jumping from one roof to another headed to a high tower in the center of the city. It was completely made out of wood and was also one of the tallest buildings in the village. Above the entrance there was a big, kanji symbol of 'fire'.

"Oh, you're finally back" said one of the guards, as he saw the two men approaching. "Come with me. Hokage-sama will be pleased to see you…" and with that he entered the building, lending the travelers to the highest floor.

As they reached the Hokage office, the guard bowed and went on his way back. The white-haired man slowly opened the door to see a young looking woman with long, blonde hair, clipped into two, small ponytails that were falling on her back. She was wearing a green dress with a kanji symbol on its back. The man also spotted a square, blue tattoo on her forehead. Her head was resting on a desk which was completely covered by papers.

The blonde walked closer to the woman. When he reached the desk, he stared at her for a moment and then, finding a pen between the papers, he drew it closer to the woman's face. But before the blonde could even leave a line on the female's face, she woke up and instantly gave him a powerful punch in the face, which send him flying against the wall.

The white-haired man just sighed at the sight, as the woman came closer to the boy and after helping him get back on his feet, started to wipe the floor with him again.

"What the hell?' she yelled. "I haven't seen you in two years and now that you're back you want to make my face look like a painting? When will you start to show me some respect, you brat!"

Few minute later, when the woman finally decided that the boy had enough (_A/N: the blonde decided he had enough long before, but that didn't convinced the kunoichi_), she got back behind her desk and looked at the white-haired man.

"So you're finally back, Jiraiya?" she asked. "You'll stay a while, I hope?" the man simply nodded. "Good. Now then, Naruto, I think there's someone who'd be happy to see you. Follow me…" and not waiting for his response, the woman exited the room and the blonde, wanting or not, went after her.

They walked through the hall with many doors. Some of them Naruto recognized: they've pasted the door to the room where shinobies received their missions; another was where they complete all the promotion issues. They finally reached the end of the hall and opened a massive, wooden door.

As they entered the room full of candles, Naruto noticed that the walls had strange markings on them in few places and the roof was kept above their heads by many, white columns. But what really drew his attention was a girl that stood in the middle of the room, practicing.

The girl was his age and had medium-length, pink hair. She was wearing a red, sleeveless top, short, black leg guard and high, black boots. As she turned around to the new arrivals, Naruto noticed her green eyes. And, from what the boy remembered, her curves became more… noticeable.

"Tsunade-sama…" the girl bowed at the sight of her sensei. "I believe I completed today's task and…" it was then that she noticed a blonde boy with whisker marks on his cheeks, standing next to the woman. "Eh? Na-Naruto?" she gave the boy a questioning look.

"Is that you, Sakura-chan?" the boy replied.

The woman smiled under her nose: "Seems that both of you changed a lot in those two years… I'll miss the time when you were just some dumb brats…" with that she gave both of them a warm smile. "You two probably have many things to talk about… Sakura, you have the rest of the day off…"

----------

"So, you returned for good this time?" Sakura asked her teammate, as they sat on one of the roof tops.

"Yeah" replied the boy. "At least I'm not planning to go anywhere too soon… still haven't say 'hi' to so many people… Did many things changed while I was gone? I mean, except the fact that the whole village has to look at Tsunade-baachan's wrinkled face now…"

"Well, you might say that" nodded the pink-hair kunoichi. "For one thing, you're the only one from our class, who haven't become a chuunin yet…" and with that a large grin appeared on her face.

There was a moment of silence before the news reached Naruto's head. And as they did, the whole Konoha found out that he's back, as a very specific noise came to all doors: "WHAT?"

"Well, the volume of your voice hasn't changed…" the both heard a voice from behind and as the turned around, they noticed a man with silver hair and a violet mask on his face. His forehead protector was falling on his left eye. "Yo!" he greeted them as the two, young shinobies stared at him.

"Kakashi-sensei!" yelled Naruto, getting to his feet. "I see that you changed very little…"

"Looks can be deceiving…" replied the man calmly. "You'll see that as you'll wander around the village…"

"Yeah, guess you're right" nodded the boy. "Well, it's been fun seeing you guys again, but there are things I gotta do… and places I need to visit…"

"By that you mean… Ichiraku and eating ramen, don't you?" Sakura asked with a little disappointed look on her face.

"Well…" was all Naruto said while scratching the back of his head. "I didn't had any, good ramen is a really long while…"

"Just go" she made a motion with her hand, allowing him to leave. As the boy jumped down from the roof, the girl couldn't help but smile. "_You're stronger, but you're still the same simple-minded blonde I remember…_"

----------

"Okay team number eight!" said a woman with long, black hair and red eyes. She was wearing an all white dress that could give you an impressions she's just wrapped with bandages all over. "Today we'll… wait, where's Hinata?"

"I'm afraid she won't be coming today…" announced a boy with a little messy, black hair, wearing a light green overcoat with sunglasses on his nose.

"Huh? Why not?"

"Didn't you heard, Kurenai-sensei?" the other boy with short, spiky, brown hair and two, red fang tattoos on his cheeks, wearing a short-sleeved, blue shirt and black pants looked a bit surprised. "Naruto returned to Konoha today. I don't think we'll be seeing her too soon" and as he said so a little smile appeared on his face. A small dog running under his feet barked loudly while shaking his tail back and fort.

"Guess it can't be helped" sighed the woman, but also gave a tiny smile. "We'll start of without her. What would you guys say for a sparing match?"

----------

Meanwhile Naruto was devouring the fourth bowl of ramen today. The bar owner was really happy to get his number one customer back. As more noodles disappeared in the blonde gennins mouth, the boy called: "One more bowl!" and before he could count to three another meal was placed right before him.

Being in his eating frenzy, he didn't even spotted that a certain girl walked into the bar. She had short, black hair. She was wearing blue pants and a short sleeved, yellow shirt, thanks to which no-one should have a problem in recognizing her as a girl. But what really drew everyone's attention in the girl were probably her eyes, which were completely white.

"Welcome back, Naruto-kun…" she spoke up and it was only then that the blonde shinobi has taken his eyes of the ramen bowl and looked at the new arrival.

With few noodles falling from his mouth, the boy stared at the girl with his eyes widen and his mouth open, thus releasing some of his mouth content on the floor. It took him a moment to snap out of it and answer the call: "HINATA? Is that really you?"

"I missed you, Naruto-kun" she announced with a smile appearing on her face… and a small blush. "How was your trip?"

----------

"So, the Kyuubi brat finally returned home?" asked the first figure, who's face was completely covered by a shadow cast by the hood he was wearing. His clothes were black, decorated in red clouds.

"Looks like it" replied another man, wearing the same clothes as the first. He was taller and carried a huge sword, wrapped in bandages. "This might be very convenient for us. Now that he's among his friends he'll be less alert…"

"Indeed" nodded the first. "Let's get going, Kisame… before today ends, the Kyuubi will be in our hands…" and so both figures headed forwards Konoha.

* * *

And that's that for now. Please let me know what you think of it. 

I'm open to any suggestions and critic (hope it'll be well-meant, not something that closes in: 'this story sucks').

Take care and hope you'll have a great day.


	2. Improvements

**Naruto:** Hi, you all! So glad that you dropped by! The second chappie of "Love, Demons and Bloodlines" in finally ready and I'd love to go on with the story right away, but that freak wants to answer your reviews first, so let's just get this over with quick. First of: some of the readers were annoyed that Hinata wasn't her usual self around me... why's that?

**Shang:** I actually wanted to changed that a bit, but since it bothers some I made some changes in this chapters. It's not exacly the Hinata you all know (and love), but I have a reason for this, which will be displayed later on... also, I promise that from chapter three she'll be more like her usual self.

**Naruto:** Moving on: why wasn't there too much interaction between the charas?

**Shang:** The previous chapter was, practically, only an introduction. But I can promise that every character will have his/hers five minutes and their relations will be shown as the story continue.

**Naruto:** Lastly: why is this fic moving at such a speed?

**Shang:** Well, as I decleared in my other fic: I dislike making filler-ups. It was it's minuses, but thanks to that you won't suffer meaningless chapters. With every event the story will move on. Some of you may not like it, but that's just how I write.

More romance in the next chapter, sorry. This part took longer then I expected.

**Chapter #2: Improvements**

They found a small glade in the middle of the forest with a big rock on the border of it. They did so mostly due to Naruto's pushing and Hinata, being her usual self, was too weak to refuse him (_A/N: come on, he's Naruto and she's Hinata after all_).

During the walk the blonde began telling her stories about his journeys and what he learned. Practically the glade was his idea. Being the show-off that he was, he couldn't help himself but to show some of his new jutsus.

Of course, as they walk side by side, Hinata was blushing slightly, but during the time he was away she gain some courage. It still wasn't enough to confess to him or anything, but she felt more confident while being around him now then she used to be.

"I see you stopped wearing that wide, brown coat…" announced the blonde, looking at her. "Good thing. Yellow suits you way better… and you don't seem so gloomy anymore either…"

"T-thank you…" she replied, blushing a bit more. "S-so, Naruto-kun…" she began. "What exactly did that man from the Hidden Grass wanted you to do? After all, I doubt he'd give you that scroll for nothing…"

"Of course" replied the blonde. "There was this missing-nin he wanted me to catch…"

----------

"You think he's ready?" asked Tsunade, looking out the window.

"Hard to say…" replied Jiraiya. "He became stronger… much stronger then he was, but…"

"I get the point…" interrupted the slug sennin. There was a short silence before she spoken again: "From what you told me, it seems that HE left his hideout, hasn't HE?" Jiraiya simply nodded. "Why would HE do that now, after ten years? You think HE is up to something?"

"I'm afraid so…" responded the toad sennin. "But whether HE is up to something or not, it can't be good for us. But it'd seem HE is not aware of Naruto…"

"That's the only good news about it… We need to make preparations… and find out what is HIS objective… is HE working alone?"

"Hard to say… but even if HE is, it won't help us much…"

"I know…" replied Tsunade, finally turning to her former teammate. "I'll take care of Naruto for now. I'm counting on you to get as much information as you can about HIM."

"I'll do what I can…" insured Jiraiya before disappearing.

----------

"And then I awesomely kicked his ass!" Naruto concluded his story.

Hinata couldn't help but smile, as she observed her crush trying to perform every move he described in his story. "_You really became strong, haven't you, Naruto-kun?_" she thought to herself, blushing slightly.

"Well, it seems you're having a good time, aren't you… Kyuubi?" came a voice from the bushes. Both Hinata and Naruto instantly turned around to see two man dressed in dark cloaks with red clouds on them.

The smaller one had long, black hair that was partly falling on his face. The face itself had two lines running under the red eyes. The face showed absolutely no emotions. On the forehead they spotted a Konoha headband, but the symbol of the Leaf was crossed by a single scratch mark that came across the whole hitae-ate.

The taller one had blue skin and the hair of the same color. His face gave an impression of a shark. He carried a huge sword, wrapped in bandages and his headband, also scratched, had the Hidden Mist symbol on it.

"You two…" said Naruto with anger in his voice. "I thought that after kicking that guy's ass in the Rain Country, you'd leave me alone for a longer while…"

"That weakling wasn't even a real, Akatsuki member" announced the taller one with a smile, that shown sharp teeth. "We just hired him to check your strength… and thanks to the fact he got killed, we didn't even had to pay him… thanks for the favor…"

"Naruto-kun, who are they?" asked Hinata looking at both figures.

"How rude of us…" the swordsman smiled again and took a step closer. "My name is Hoshigaki Kisame and this is my partner, Uchiha Itachi…"

"_Uchiha?_" Hyuuga heiress's eyes widen at hearing that.

"We came here for the blonde brat…" announced the one called Kisame. "Stay out of our way and you won't get hurt… try to stop us and you'll find death…" with those words he pointed the top of his sword at her.

"Leave her out of this!" ordered Naruto. "It's me that you want… come then!"

"Itachi, what do you think?" Kisame turned to his partner.

"You may have this…" replied the former leaf-nin. "But don't take too long… staying in this village longer then it's need is risky… we don't want to repeat the same mistake twice… this time go all out from the very beginning…"

"As you wish…" hearing that the shark-face smiled once more and turned to face the loud mouth. "Now, since we failed finishing this that time…" and with that he charged right at the blonde, with his blade aimed at his head.

Naruto avoided the attack by simply lowering his head and in a fracture of a second performed his primary technique: "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Suddenly four Naruto's were charging right at the former mist-nin, who seems totally unprepared for that.

But as soon as the first Naruto's kick reached the shark-face, his body exploded with water, thus sending the clones flying at the tree and making it disappear in the cloud of white smoke.

"_A higher level of mizu bushin, eh?_" Naruto thought to himself as he looked around the area. "_He made a clone at the very beginning and send it to the glade, leaving the original safe… this isn't going to be as easy as I thought…_" and with that he began performing a new set of hand seals. "If you're not gonna get out here, I'll make you" as he finished that statement, he slammed his hands to the ground, calling out: "Doton: Ishi Tomurai no Jutsu!" and hundreds of stone spikes shot from the ground, damaging the whole area. The only spot they avoided was the one Hinata was standing.

"_What a technique…_" the white-eyed girl just stood there amazed.

Itachi was standing on the top of one of the stone spikes, looking down on the two leaf-nins. It was then that Naruto heard a noise coming from behind and jumped back, merely avoiding Kisame's blade, which, cutting through some of the spikes, was aimed at his stomach.

"_What the hell is his sword made of?_" Naruto wondered as he was still in mid-air, performing a new set of hand seals: "_Well, as long as he has it, he's dangerous… better finish this soon…_"

Meanwhile Naruto's clones were already attacking the shark-face with a storm of kicks and punches, but the former mist-nin was able to block all of them. Finally, seeing an opening, he elbowed the clone on his right, thus causing it to disappear in the cloud of white smoke. With one clone gone, the other two weren't able to keep up with the swordsman and were easily destroyed by Kisame. Unluckily for the fishman, at the same moment Naruto finished his chain of hand seals.

The blonde took a deep breath and as he released the air, he called out: "Katon: Karyuudan no Jutsu!". Instantly a dragon formed from circling flames came right at the former mist-nin.

Having no way to dodge, Kisame performed a quick set of hand seals and he too took a deep breath. As he let the air out, water came out of his mouth and formed a barrier that stopped the fire dragon just before it reached the shark-face, lifting up a ton of steam.

As Naruto's feet were getting closer to the ground, Kisame launched himself towards him, preparing his sword. But before he was able to make a cut, he received a powerful blow in the stomach, which caused him to slid back a little. As he raised his head, he noticed a white-eyed girl standing in front of him in her battle stance.

"Hinata…" Naruto whispered as he stared at the Hyuuga heiress.

"Don't forget that Naruto-kun isn't your only opponent" reminded the white-eyed girl. "I'm still here…"

"You little…" began the shark-face, but his words were silenced by Itachi:

"She's a Hyuuga, Kisame… you should watch out. Her clan is known for their unique and powerful taijutsu style… even with a weak hit she can damage your internal organs…"

"Well, it's not like I'll allow her to get close to me anyway" replied the former mist-nin and threw several shurikens at the girl.

But to his surprise, Hinata was instantly surrounded with a sphere of chakra that stopped the shinobi stars in their tracks. Then she began spinning and shark-face eyes widen as he observed his shurikens being blown away.

"Don't take me lightly" advised the white-eyed girl. "I'm not as weak as you think…"

"I see… so you have some skills as well, eh?" Kisame smiled again. "But it's you brats that take me lightly…" and before she even noticed the former mist-nin became a puddle of water and the really shark-face was coming at her from behind with his sword ready to cut her head of.

But before the blade reached the girl, Naruto kicked it from its flat side, thus throwing it out of the shark-face hand, and then gave the large man a punch in the face, which send him flying back few meters.

"And how about if we check how good you are with that sword of yours?" asked Naruto as he stabbed the blade deep into the ground, performed a quick chain of hand seals and with the last symbol he called out: "Kage Bushin no Jutsu…" and instantly tens of him surrounded the former mist-nin. "Let's do this!" yelled the blonde as all the clones jumped right at the swordsman with kunai's in their hands and stabbed the Akatsuki member in various places.

But it was at the very same time that the sword was covered with white smoke and before it cleared a blue-skin hand grabbed the blonde's throat and lifted him up.

"Do you really expect me to fall for your lame tricks?" asked Kisame a bit irritated. "I'm not a rookie like you…"

Hinata turned in the direction the shark-face filled with Naruto's kunai's was standing just to see him turn into the water. "_He created two mizu bushins when the steam that appeared after Naruto-kun's fire attack collided with his water barrier… he's skilled…_"

"I know you're not a rookie…" announced the blonde. "But, you know… neither am I…" and with that he disappeared in the cloud of white smoke and a second later Kisame felt a kunai near his throat. "Check-mate…"

"_So the kage bushin just now was a diversion, eh?_" figured the former mist-nin. "_He had to figure out I used the henge and left one clone behind on purpose so that the original could get me from behind… nice, Kyuubi brat, but that's still far too early for you to celebrate…_" and with that though a smirk appeared on his face. "You're stronger then you were, I'll admit that… but making mistakes like the one you did just now… you're still just a rookie…"

"And just what do you mean by that?"

"Didn't it bothered you?" replied Kisame. "That fact that I don't have my Somehada?"

At hearing that Naruto's eyes widen as he jumped into the air instantly and only thanks to that avoiding a cut from behind that splitted another mizu bushin in half.

"_A double diversion!_" cursed Naruto, as his hands began making new seals. "_This guy is way better then the ones I fought so far…_" and with that he took a deep breath, but before he could perform the jutsu, he found Kisame reaching him and cutting his stomach, thus causing him to dispel the jutsu he was about to execute.

With blood escaping he landed hard on the ground and observed as the former mist-nin charged at him once more with his sword ready to attack, but he once more received a hit with an opened palm from the white-eyed girl.

"_That little hag is beginning to work on my nerves…_" Kisame thought to himself as he blocked another palm with the flat side of his blade. Before he knew it, he was force to dodge a storm of attacks.

As he backed away, the former mist-nin perform a quick set of hand seals and before Hinata could react in any way, she was trapped within a huge bubble of water.

"Suirou no Jutsu" announced Kisame. "Never fails… Now, what should I do with you? You caused me some trouble, little girl… And now I have to punish you…"

"Leave her alone!" yelled the blonde as he slowly began to get back on his feet. The wound Kisame left him just a while ago was already healing. "_I won't let anyone suffer because of me…_" and with that thought Naruto raised his head.

His eyes turned red and teeth became sharp as he held out his right hand in front of his body. In an instant chakra began to concentrate in the palm of his hand… only this time it was red.

"_What the hell?_" Kisame's eyes widen at the sight. "_It's not the same technique he used against Haizaki! Could it be that…?_" but he couldn't finish his thought as the blonde charged right at him, pushing the hand that was carrying the red orb out front.

With rage in his voice, Naruto called out: "Kitsune Rasengan!" and was closing in on the former mist-nin with an incredible speed.

Hinata's eyes widen, both with amazement, but also with fear. "_Is… that Naruto-kun?_"

Kisame, not able to move due to using of the water prison, raised his sword and then cut Naruto's stomach as soon as the blonde came into his range. But to his surprise that didn't stop the loud mouth. The red orb hit him right in the gut and send him flying back, spinning wildly and finally crashing hard to the ground.

Naruto was breathing heavily and after giving Itachi an evil look he collapsed, loosing consciousness in the process. The Sharingan user stared at him for a moment in amazement.

"_He was actually able to release Kyuubi's chakra…_" he thought to himself. "_That ability makes him hard to get… best if we just take him now and leave immediately…_"

Kisame slowly got back to his feet, propping himself with the sword. He breathed heavily, even more then Naruto just did, but except a visible wound on his stomach, which didn't seem to be fatal, he was okay.

"You were pretty luck" announced Itachi, not even turning to his partner. "If you wouldn't weaken that attack with your Somehada, it'd kill you. How convenient that Rasengan is all chakra…"

"Yeah, but still it was extremely painful" replied the shark-face as he slowly moved forwards the unconscious Naruto. "Well, we were ordered to bring him alive, but after what that brat did to me, I think it's only fair if I'd chop off his leg, right?"

"Do as you wish…" responded the former leaf-nin. "Just do it quickly… we should get out of here, otherwise we're risking running into ANBU…"

"Shouldn't take too long" replied Kisame as he raised his sword up and bring it down in order to cut of Naruto's left leg.

But before the blade connected with the body, the former mist-nin heard "Konoha Renpuu!" and felt a powerful kick in the face, which send him flying back a few meters. He stopped, using his sword as a break.

As he raised his sight, he saw a certain boy with black, helmet-like hair, huge eye-brows, wearing green. Kisame also noticed that the boy's hands were wrapped in bandages.

"_This brat…_" shark-face eyes narrowed. "_He looks just like that freak... he even uses the same technique… I wonder…_" but he could finish his thought as a shuriken flew right at him from his left.

Kisame prepared his sword in attempt to deflect the shinobi star, but before he even got a chance to do that, a voice came to his ears, yelling: "Shuriken Kage Bushin no Jutsu" and suddenly in the place of one shuriken appeared tens.

The former mist-nin instantly perform a quick set of hand seals and with the final symbol he called out: "Suiton: Arai Uzumaki!" In a fracture of a second water began spinning around him and as soon as the shurikens reached the water tornado they were thrown of course and went with the flow.

It was only then that the shark-face turned in the direction that the shinobi star came from and spotted a kunoichi with brown hair, clipped into two buns, wearing pink shirt and black pants.

"Hinata-sama, please take care of Naruto" the white-eyed girl heard a voice and right before her eyes appear a boy with long, black and white eyes just like hers. He was wearing a grey dress with wide sleeves. "We'll handle those two…"

"Neji-niisan…"

"More annoying brats…" snarled shark-face, preparing his sword. "This is beginning to…"

"Kisame, stop!" ordered Itachi, drawing everyone's attention. "At this rate this will never end… we should retreat… for now…"

"What are you saying, Itachi? You're scared of those brats? Killing them all shouldn't take longer then a minute…"

"Unfortunately we do not have even a minute" announced the Sharingan user. "Since they show up, it means that the whole village is alarmed… it's only a matter of time for ANBU to appear. With you wounded it'd be troublesome to fight them… and pointless, for that matter."

Kisame looked at the new arrivals with anger in his eyes, but after a short moment he calmed down and began walking towards his partner. "Fine, but remember: it was you who wanted to leave without the Kyuubi…"

"Fear not, we'll get it another day" replied Itachi. "It's not the end… this is merely the beginning" and with that both of them were gone.

Hinata let out a sign of relief and smile to Naruto: "They're gone, Naruto-kun…" but the blonde didn't even moved.

"Naruto-kun?" she repeated with a weak voice. "Naruto-kun!"

* * *

And this concludes the second chapter. Hope you liked it. Please leave a review with your opinion once you're done reading. 

Now something like a trade mark from me: here's the jutsu encyklopedia with the techniques used in this chappie. I left out Kage and Mizu bushin, coz everyone knows those two far to well. So, without further to do:

_Doton: Ishi Tomurai no Jutsu_ (Earth Element: Stone Funeral Skill) – in order for this jutsu to work, the user must release his chakra into the ground. The same chakra pushes up the stones from underground up in the form of spikes. Performed correctly, this technique is extremely devastating (it was also used by Kataki in my other fic).

_Katon: Karyuudan no Jutsu_ (Fire Element: Fire Dragon Blast Skill) – a technique similar to the Hidden Mist's Water Dragon Blast (Zabuza used it in his first fight with Kakashi). The user first gathers chakra in his lungs and then, with the help of the right seals, releases it from his mouth in the form of a flame that looks like a dragon. This is probably one of the most powerful, fire-based attacks.

_Suiton: Suijinheki_ (Water Element: Water Barrier Wall) – a technique originally used by the 2nd Hokage. The user must concentrate chakra in his lungs and then, performing the right hand seals, release it from his mouth in the form of a water blast. It's mostly used to stop fire-based attacks.

_Kitsune Rasengan_ (Fox Rasengan) – a higher level of Rasengan, invented by Naruto. It can be performed only with the use of Kyuubi's chakra. The way of creating the orb stays the same as in the case of the normal Rasengan, but this attack is way more devastating and practically no-one can block it completely.

_Konoha Renpuu_ (Konoha's Violent Wind) – a strong, spinning kick. Quite similar to Konoha's Spinning Wind (Konoha Senpuu), but more powerful. It's used by both Gai and Lee.

_Shuriken Kage Bushin no Jutsu_ (Shuriken Shadow Clone Skill) – technique first used by the 3rd Hokage during his fight with Orochimaru. This technique multiplies a thrown object into many, exact replications that all can do damage. It can be performed only if the user will give the object he wishes to multiply his chakra.

_Suiton: Arai Uzumaki_ (Water Element: Wild Whirlpool) – technique used by Kisame. The user must first gather chakra in his feet and then, with the use of the right hand seals, release it. If performed correctly, the chakra will take the form of water and will beginning spinning around the user, creating a barrier for most, physical attacks.

_Suirou no Jutsu_ (Water Prison Skill) – creates a large sphere of water, that holds the opponent inside it. The prison is hard to escape from, but the user must keep contact with it, otherwise it'll be dispelled.

And this seriously concludes this chapter. Hope you enjoyed reading it. Please let me know what you think.

Take care and hopefully till the next chapter.


	3. With His Eyes Closed

**Hinata:** Well, Naruto-kun is in hard condition, so I'll be interviewing this time around...

**Shang:** Good... practically you're my last hope to get a normal interviewer for once... so, what does the readers wish to know?

**Hinata:** Well... ammm... one of the readers is annoyed with too many bushins in the last chapter... and too little emotions...

**Shang:** When it goes to emotions I think this chappie will make it up to you... as for bushins: I know there were many, but that's because I think shinobies does not care about the way they win, so they'd use any trick, even repeat it as much as they'd have to... plus, I thought the fight would be less predictable that way...

**Hinata:** Secondly, many readers are confused about me...

**Shang:** Oh yeah... well, I'll try to cover the 'Hinata-issue' here... those who prefer to find everything out from the story, I advise to skip this paragraph. First of all I'll make one thing clear: Hinata will not be the way you remember her from the manga/anime. Sorry for that, but it's just as Gandhara put it (btw, thanks for protecting my point of view). Now, for all those who like the 'new' Hinata and got scared by the statement in the preview interview: Hinata isn't exacly returning to her old self. Why is she going to be a bit more like the old-self? Well, you'll see... but it's only for this chappie.

**Hinata:** Dragon Man 180 aksed few questions... lets see...

**Shang:** I read them already. I think this chapter will answer all of your questions, so all you have to do is read it.

**Hinata:** I think that's that... I'm going to check on Naruto-kun now...

**Shang:** Okay... best of luck. And before I start, one last announcement:

**RATHER IMPORTANT NOTE:** One of the reviewers drew my attention that there are quite many grammar mistakes in my story. Well, I know that my english isn't perfect, coz I do everything instinctually. Personally I prefer to do things my own way, but if it bothers you, then let me know (best way is to note that in your review). If you guy (and girls) wish I'll look for a beta. Also, anyone who'd be interested in becoming a beta-reader for this story (and maybe my other fics as well) contact me (by e-mail, review etc.). With that said I await your reply.

And now, without any, more delays, here's the third chapter of "Love, Demons and Bloodlines". Hope you'll like it and please leave a review when you're done:

**Chapter #3: With His Eyes Closed**

Tsunade walked out of the hospital room just to see a certain, white-eyed girl sitting on a hair next to the door. She had a worried look on her face and as soon as the Godaime went through the door, she gave the slug sennin an asking glare.

"Tsunade-sama, will Naruto-kun be okay?"

"Well…" the Leaf's Hokage hesitated from a moment. "His condition has stabilized, but I don't think he'll be opening his eyes anytime soon. I'm afraid all we can do now is wait…"

"C-can I…?" she began, but Tsunade instantly figured out what she wanted to say:

"Of course, you can" she replied and before she even noticed, the Hyuuga heiress already entered the room in which the loudest ninja of Konoha was resting. The Godaime merely smiled and walked away. She still had other patients to check on.

----------

"So, you failed to get the Kyuubi…" Kisame and Itachi heard a voice coming from the bushes as they slowly walked through the forest. Without even stopping or looking around, the Sharingan user replied shortly:

"We did…"

"The master won't be pleased" the voice announced. "More over, you allowed the fox brat to wound you, Kisame… you're getting old…"

"If that was a joke, Zetsu, then it wasn't funny" responded the shark-face. "Besides, it's not like the brat defeated us… we decided to leave him behind…"

"You wounded the brat" reminded the one called Zetsu. "We need him alive. Remember that if he dies, because of that wound, you'll be punished. Greatly…"

"Why won't you worry about getting your own Jinchuuriki, eh?" the former mist-nin was getting a little pissed. "And show yourself, I hate talking to air…"

It was then that a mysterious figure appeared from under the ground. He was wearing the same cloak with red clouds as the other two. His face had two colors: the left side was white whereas the right one was black. His hair was green and his eyes were completely zombie-like. But what really drew attention in this person were huge jaws that surrounded his head.

"That's better…" announced Kisame. "Now, you came here for a reason or did you just wanted to piss me of?"

"HE is on the loose" replied Zetsu shortly.

"And you think HE has any business with the Kyuubi vessel?" asked Itachi.

"We're not sure…" responded the one called Zetsu. "But if HE does, then getting the nine-tail can prove difficult…"

"The Kyuubi will be ours" ensured the Sharingan user. "We waited three years… we can wait a bit longer…"

----------

Sakura quietly opened the door with her right hand. As she entered the room, she saw only one bed situated under the wall. The bed was quite big, especially since there was only one patient in it: a certain blonde gennin with whisker marks on his cheeks.

A moment later the pink-haired kunoichi noticed a chair situated near the bed and a little pale girl with white eyes sitting in it. The girl looked at her and greeted the guest with a weak smile.

"Is that jonquil for Naruto-kun?" she asked Tsunade's apprentice.

"Yes, it is" replied Sakura as she placed the flower in a vase that stood on a small table. "So, how is he doing?" she asked after a short silence.

"Tsunade-sama said that his condition has stabilized… unfortunately it seems Naruto-kun can not come back to us too soon…" and with that she lowered her head.

The pink-haired kunoichi walked closer and put her hand on the girl's shoulder. Hinata looked into her green eyes as Sakura announced: "Naruto is strong… one of the strongest people I know… he'll be fine, you can trust me on that…" and with that last statement she smiled at the Hyuuga heiress. "I have to check few patients today, but I'll be back in an hour or two…"

Hinata only nodded as Sakura walked out the door. Once she entered the hallway, she spotted Kiba walking in her direction. It wasn't hard to figure he was here to see how the blonde shinobi was doing.

----------

"You saw that too, didn't you Neji?" Lee asked in excitement as he walked around the training area. The three of them were meeting their sensei here, but surprisingly, Green Beast's idol was late. "Those red eyes, sharp teeth… what was that?"

"How should I know?" replied the Hyuuga genius simply. He decided to keep the fact that he already saw Naruto in a similar condition earlier to himself. "I can't answer your question… and making assumptions will only complicate things… I suggest waiting for Naruto to wake up… if he'll feel like it, he'll tell us…"

"And you're not even a bit curious, Neji-kun?" asked Tenten.

"It's only natural that I am…" responded the white-eyed boy, turning towards his teammate. "But as I said: there's no point in making assumptions…" and with those words he went into silence. A moment later, Gai appeared on the area.

"Greetings me faithful students!" yelled Kakashi's rival. "How are you on this beautiful evening? How does it feel to be the ones who saved their Leaf comrades from S-class criminals?"

"Gai-sensei!" Lee yelled back, raising his hands to the sky. "Tell us why we're meeting at such a late hour! Do we have a new mission so that our youthful spirits could shine again?"

"No…" replied Gai with a little sadness in his voice. "Tsunade-sama just ordered me to give you few days of as a reward for a job well done! As I said: you saved fellow, Leaf shinobies from certain death! If it weren't for you, Naruto and Hinata would probably both be dead right now! Well done my children!" at hearing those words his team exchanged glances and after a moment of silence, Neji stood up:

"Since we're free today, I have something I should take care of…" he announced. "Excuse me…" and with that he was gone.

"I'll go and train then!" stated the Green Beast. "First, hundred laps around Konoha!"

"I just remembered that… I forgot to turn of the gas… goodnight, Gai-sensei" and so even Tenten left the area, leaving Gai alone.

"_Seems that you were right, Tsunade-sama…_" he thought to himself as he began walking away. "_They are suspecting something…_"

---------

Kiba knocked and the door and without waiting for a reply, he entered. As he walked into the room and closed the door behind him, Hinata raised her head to see who the new arrival was. Seeing her teammate, she felt a bit relieved.

None of them said anything. Kiba just stood right next to his teammate and stared at the blonde who was laying motionless on the bed. Hinata was also looking at Konoha's loudest ninja, but her head was down.

The silence wasn't broken by anything until the Hyuuga heiress finally decided to speak: "I couldn't do anything, Kiba-kun…" she announced as tears started to gather in her eyes. "He was fighting a powerful enemy and I-I didn't really do anything that'd help him…" at those words tears started to fall from her face. "All I did… this whole time… did I… did I really changed during those three years?" and with that she openly started crying.

Kiba kneeled in front of his teammate and embraced her. She sobbed into his shoulder, repeating that she could do anything to help. And he listen without saying a word. Even Akamaru kept quite.

As she finally calmed herself down a bit, the dog ninja pulled her away slowly and looked deep into her eyes, saying: "Hinata, you did change… and don't you even dare thinking you haven't… I heard it from Neji… you saved Naruto's life… don't say you didn't do anything… coz you did… you did everything that was in your power to help!"

"Still, it was not enough…" she continued sobbing.

"You tried your best…" reminded her Kiba. "No-one could expect more… you didn't disappointed anyone… and I'm sure Naruto would say the exact same thing if he was conscious…" at that point Akamaru barked loudly, showing his agreement.

Hinata looked into dog ninja's eyes and slowly a weak smile began appearing on her face. "Thank you, Kiba-kun…" she finally said as her teammate smiled back at her.

"It's getting late…" announced the young Inuzuka. "I should get going… but I'll be back in the morning… guess you're staying, aren't you?" the Hyuuga heiress only nodded. "Goodnight then…" and with that the dog ninja walked out of the room, followed by his canine companion.

But this time it didn't even took a minute for new guests to enter the room. This time around there were two of them. The first was a boy with black hair, clipped in a ponytail, wearing a black fishnet and a green waistcoat on it. Hinata also spotted three, golden earrings in his left ear.

The other visitor was a boy her age with spiky, brown hair, wearing a white scarf around his neck and a grey t-shirt. He was quite chubby and was carrying potato chips bag in his hands.

"We…" began the thinner one. "We heard from Ino that Naruto was here so we figure we drop by… how is he doing?"

"Well… he's fine now…" replied the Hyuuga heiress. "All we have to do is wait for him to wake up… and I'm sure he would get up as soon as possible if he'd knew how many people came to visit him…" at that she manage to smile widely, for the first time since her fight with Kisame. It was also then that all three heard a loud 'burk' coming from her stomach.

"Have you eaten anything?" asked Shikamaru with a concerned look.

"Well… you see…" she began, starting to blush.

"Figures…" sighed the lazy chuunin. "I have nothing to do today anyway, so I might as well go fetch you some dinner. What would you like?"

The Hyuuga heiress was about to answer when Chouji cut in, announcing: "Get some pizza while you're at it, will ya?"

Shikamaru's eye twitched as he gave his teammate an evil glare, but after a moment he just said his favorite quote and exited the room, leaving the hungry, white-eyed girl and a chubby ninja to themselves.

----------

The hour was late. Both Shikamaru and Chouji had to leave for home. The only one that stayed in the room was Hinata. During this whole time Naruto didn't even moved. The only thing that was the prove he was still alive was the fact that he was breathing.

The Hyuuga heiress didn't left his side all that time. She only left the room to visit the girl's room. A bit earlier Sakura dropped by to check up on the blonde gennin, but she had to leave soon after as her medical duties called for her.

Finally midnight felt. The moon above the Hidden Leaf village brighten the area with the help of many stars. It was then that the white-eyed girl began to feel tired. She shook her head in hope that would stop her eyelids from falling down. Probably because of that she didn't sensed another presence in the room.

"It's getting late…" she heard a voice coming from behind. As the Hyuuga heiress turned around, she noticed her cousin who saved her the other day. "Hinata-sama, your father send me to bring you home for the night…"

"I'm not going…" replied the girl quietly.

"Hinata-sama, I know how much he means to you, but…" Neji tried to oppose, but was immediately interrupted by the young heiress:

"I said I'm not going" she announced in more confident tone this time. "You can tell my father that I won't be coming home until Naruto-kun wakes up… and that's final" she turned around to look at the blonde laying on the bed. The Hyuuga genius just stared at the girl without saying a word.

Finally, after a longer silence, Hinata spoken: "Neji-niisan… I hope you understand…"

"Hiashi-sama won't be happy about this…" announced the white-eyed boy. "But I'll think of something…" he added short after with a smile on his face.

Hinata returned the smile and after saying 'thank you' she return to holding Konoha's loudest ninja hand, waiting for him to wake up. Neji slowly walked out of the room and headed towards the Hyuuga estate. He still had to think of an excuse for not bringing the young heiress with him. An excuse that will stop Hiashi from sending someone else to the hospital.

----------

The hour was early. Sun was slowly rising, making the sky red, when Tsunade walked into the hospital for her everyday 'patrol'. It was one of the few things that the slug sennin actually did without Shizune reminding her that it was 'her duty'.

After she checked all her patients, she decided to see how Naruto was doing. The Godaime slowly walked through the white halls of Konoha's hospital and stopped at the room number 122. The room where the Leaf's loudest ninja was placed.

"_It sure is quiet…_" she thought to herself. "_Maybe Naruto should get beaten up more often?_" she manage to smile at the forced joke, but it didn't really made her feel better. The slug sennin pressed the door handle and slowly walked into the room.

As she entered, she noticed a certain, black haired girl sitting on a chair placed near the bed. Her head was laying on the edge of the bed. She was obviously sleeping.

"_She stayed here the whole night?_" wondered Tsunade. Then she heard somebody coming her way. She looked out the door just to see Kiba (along with Akamaru, of course) and Shino heading towards the room. The Aburame heir was carrying some food. "What are you doing here at such an early hour?" she asked quietly.

"We came to check on Hinata…" replied Shino simply. "And we also heard from Shikamaru about last evening, so we figure bringing her something to eat won't hurt…"

"I see…" nodded Tsunade with a smile. "Well, I have Hokage stuff to do, so I'm leaving those two under your care…" and with that she slowly walked away.

----------

Days gone by and Naruto still wasn't waking up. Hinata didn't left his side even for a day. Sakura, Shikamaru and others were dropping by regular. Kiba and the lazy chuunin were always bringing some food with them, knowing that the Hyuuga heiress didn't wanted to move even to grab a snack.

Neji had a difficult time in his clan's estate as Hiashi was slowly beginning to grow impatient of the white-eyed genius excuses for not bringing his daughter back. But he decided that this time he'll help his cousin and kept the head of the Hyuuga away from the hospital.

Finally, one, sunny morning, as the first sunrays were slowly making their way into the room where Konoha's loudest shinobi was resting, the blonde gennin moved his fingers. Next on the list were his eyes, which he opened after a little while. His whole body was completely numb, so it's only natural that it'd take him some time to move it again.

He was slowly getting into a sitting position when he felt something holding his left hand. As he looked in that direction, he noticed a girl wearing yellow with short, black hair. She was sleeping but even so she was still holding his arm tightly.

"So, you're finally awake…" he heard a voice coming from the right. He slowly turned his head, making the less moves as possible, so to not wake the young Hyuuga and noticed Tsunade standing next to the bed with her arms crossed. "You slept over a week… and I thought that it was Shikamaru who was lazy…" and with that she gave him a wide smile.

"Tsunade-baachan!" Naruto almost yelled, happy to see the young-looking woman. "What are you doing here? Don't you have some Hokage business to take care of…?"

"I do…" nodded the slug sennin. "But I thought I'll keep this girl's company…" with that she pointed her head towards Hinata. "She didn't left your side even for a minute… Guess she was too exhausted to stay awake though…"

"_She… didn't left my side?_" Naruto gave the sleeping heiress a puzzled look.

"It's not just her…" continued Tsunade. "All of us… were worried…"

At hearing that the blonde gennin began looking around the room and it was only then that he spotted more people sleeping on the chairs placed against the wall in front of him. First was Shikamaru who was snoring. His head was lying on Chouji's stomach, which was going up and down as the chubby ninja was breathing. More to the left were Ino, a girl with long, blonde hair, clipped in a ponytail, dressing purple and Sakura. They were sleeping as well, one propped by the others head.

As Naruto kept moving his head to the right he noticed Kiba stretched on his chair, drooling a little. Next to his feet lay Akamaru, also sleeping. Then there was Shino who sat on the chair with his arms crossed. Due to the sunglasses the blonde couldn't really tell whether the Aburame heir was asleep or not.

Another one, who Naruto spotted, was Lee, talking in his sleep and right next to him Tenten, who settled her head on his shoulder. After that the blonde noticed Neji standing right next to Hinata. The Hyuuga genius smiled slightly and announced:

"It's good that you came back to us, Naruto…"

The loudmouth returned the smile and then placed his gaze on the white-eyed girl who was still sleeping peacefully, holding his left hand. She didn't moved even an inch. Naruto smiled and slowly placed his free arm on her head, saying 'thank you' in his head.

As soon as his hand touched her hair, the young heiress raised her head slowly and seeing the whisker-marks boy she almost jumped to the ceiling. She embraced him tightly, announcing in a cheerful voice: "Naruto-kun, you're awake! How do you feel?" she asked as she let go of the blonde gennin and smiling widely.

"Well.." began Naruto as he placed his hand on his stomach. "Hungry… do you think Ichiraku is open at this time?"

Hinata only smiled at that right before she began laughing and soon after everyone that was awake in the room joined the white-eyed girl.

----------

"So, he's finally awake…" noticed Gai as him and Kakashi were sitting on the roof of Konoha's hospital. "Good to know he's alright…"

"Yeah…" nodded his eternal rival. "But I'm afraid the greatest challenge he has to face… is still in front of him…"

At that the Leaf's taijutsu specialist looked at the sky and without turning to the silver-haired shinobi, he asked: "You think he'll manage?"

"Hard to say…" replied the Copy ninja. "But he cannot avoid it…"

* * *

Well, this chappie came out a bit shorten then I expected... but I still hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review with your opinion, because I really wish to improve. 

No jutsus were used, so there's only one thing left for me to do before ending this chapter. I wish you all:

_HAPPY HALLOWEEN AND SUCCESSFUL HUNTING (for sweets)._

Take care and hopefully till the next chapter.


	4. Human Sacrifices

**Shang:** ARGH! So sorry for making you wait so long for this one! I had plenty of exams and I was busy with other stuff. Anyways I was able to sit down to it and finally finish the fourth chapter. I wanted to submit it as fastest as possible so once again I had to skip the double check, so sorry for any, grammar mistakes. Now, when it comes to your reviews... what the hell are you doing here?

**Kai:** SURPRISE!

**Shang:** Aren't you supposed to be at your own fic? I'm goign to submit the new chapter of it today too, you know...

**Kai:** Don't worry, I'll be fine. But I'm not here to explain myself to you. Time to find out some answers! Well, the most common question is who's this HE so many people mention...

**Shang:** I'd prefer to keep that a secret for now... but I can promise that you'll be able to find out more about that character soon (okay, depends on point of view, but...)

**Kai:** Okay, so above that you only get 'job well done' phrases... hehe, you suck at grammar!

**Shang:** You know what, that's it! Get the hell out of this fic! And if I see you anywhere outside your own, you'll be sorry!

Now, because I've already made you wait so long, without further delays:

**Chapter #4: Human Sacrifices**

The wounds on his body still haven't healed completely, so Tsunade decided to keep the blonde gennin in the hospital for a day or two longer. Luckily for Naruto (_A/N: well, at least he was happy_) Hinata agreed to bring him few bowls from the bar. Kiba, after complaining a bit, joined her since the Hyuuga heiress definitely wouldn't be able to carry all the bowls the loud mouth wanted.

In the meantime, the slug sannin send for the jounin instructors of the four teams which members could be considered Naruto's friends. Both Kakashi and Gai knew exactly what the Godaime wanted to discuss. Kurenai and Asuma however had absolutely no clue.

"Tsunade-sama, do you think it's wise?" asked the smoker politely after hearing about the Legendary kunoichi's idea. "The Third…"

"I remember…" interrupted the slug sannin. "But it must be done… I think you all knew this day would come eventually… besides, I believe it's best for Naruto…"

"But how will they react?" asked Kurenai with concern. "After all…"

"I understand that…" Tsunade interrupted again. "But at least he'll know…"

"We should at least let Naruto do it…" announced Kakashi, who didn't seemed to be interested in this conversation until now. "I'll talk to him and you just bring your students to his room… Tsunade-sama, may I ask you to take care of Sakura?"

The Godaime simply nodded and made a gesture with her hand that the jounins could leave. The meeting was over. The main part of the evening was still to come though.

----------

Kakashi knocked on the door and slowly entered the room. Naruto seemed completely healed. At the moment he was eating another bowl of ramen, that Hinata and Kiba brought him, with a wide smile.

The Hyuuga heiress was sitting near the bed an just observed the blonde as he ate. She was blushing slightly, but this time it was barely visible. She turned her head at the silver-haired jounin as he walked into the room and gave him a small bow.

Surprisingly, Kakashi returned the bow, which surprised Naruto a bit, but his astonishment disappeared quickly as he returned to eating his tenth bowl of ramen. The jounin only sighed and turned to the Hyuuga heiress: "Hinata, would you mind leaving the two of us alone? Just for a moment…"

"Of course, Kakashi-san…" replied the girl as she slowly exited the room.

"Now, Naruto…" began the silver head as the door behind him closed. "There's something we need to talk about. Making this longer is pointless, so I guess it's better to get straight to the point… Naruto, Tsunade-sama and me believe that it's high time to reveal your secret to your comrades…"

At hearing that the blonde stopped eating immediately and swallowed the noodles he had in his mouth. He didn't responded in any way, he was just looking deep into Kakashi's eye. The jounin knew his thoughts about that idea.

"I know how people treated you because of that…" he continued. "But if they're your friends, you should trust them… and if you think of them as friends, don't they deserve to know?"

Naruto looked out the window. He kept silent, but it didn't seemed like he was thinking about what Kakashi just said at all. It's not that he didn't wanted to tell them nor if he was scared to do so. It was more then he was afraid about them. Not their reaction to the news, just about them.

"Some already suspect something…" added the jounin. "It's better if they knew the whole truth, wouldn't you agree?"

"When…?" was all Naruto asked after a short silence.

"They should be heading this way right now…" replied Kakashi.

Soon after Kurenai, Asuma and Gai teams entered the room, along with Hinata and Sakura guided by Tsunade. The jounins backed away to stand under the wall so that their students could gather around Naruto's bed. The only, elder person who stayed close to the blonde was the Godaime.

Neji stood left to Naruto's head and the others circled the bed. Hinata placed herself between her cousin and Shino. More to the left stood Kiba with Akamaru sitting on his head (_A/N: yeah, I read the newest chapters, but I already made him a small dog… plus, what he really is now is a bit too much in my opinion_), then was Sakura and Chouji eating his potato chips. Right in front of him stood Tsunade with her arms crossed and next to her was Shikamaru, who seemed to be sleeping and only the fact that he wasn't snoring gave Naruto hope that he's not sleeping while he's standing. As he turned his head more to his right he spotted Ino, Lee and Tenten. Everyone was hear.

"Well Naruto?" rushed the Godaime. "Mind telling them why they were called here?"

"Okay…" replied the blonde, lowering his head a bit. "As you all know, or at least you should, sixteen years ago Konoha was attacked by a powerful, nine-tailed fox demon, Kyuubi. He couldn't be stopped by the whole legion of Leaf shinobies… only the Fourth Hokage was able to fight with the beast as equal…"

"Everyone knows that…" Gai whispered to Kakashi. "Why is he making this longer?"

"He's preparing both himself and them for it…" responded the silver-haired jounin simply.

"The beast was defeated and the Leaf was saved, the Yondaime gave his life for that success though…" continued Naruto. "But even though he won the battle, the Fourth was unable to destroy the demon, so he did the thing he thought was the best. He decided to seal it so that it won't threaten his village again… but the container for such beast couldn't be chose just like that… that is why he decided to seal the beast inside a new-born child…"

Neji instantly understood what the blonde was getting at, but he didn't want to show it. Shikamaru's eyes opened. He either got interested or figured things out as well. Shino gave Hinata a worried look. It seemed as though he knew too.

Naruto breathed deeply, preparing himself and everyone gathered around for what was coming. "That child was me…" he finished and raised his head to see everyone's reaction.

Both Neji and Shino didn't seem to be moved at all, however the others were surely shocked. Chouji even stopped eating. The blonde also noticed that Hinata's expression changed the most. It didn't seemed like she was shocked. It was something else… something he couldn't tell.

"That explains why you have such a large amount of chakra… and why your wounds heal at such a speed…" concluded the lazy chuunin. His announcement also ensured everyone that Naruto spoke the truth.

"To put it simply then…" Neji was the first to speak when silence filled the room for few moments. "You were sacrificed for the whole village. Be aware that the fact you carry a demon inside of you changes nothing to me… I still respect you as a friend… now maybe even more…"

Naruto's sky-blue eyes widen at hearing that.

"You did not chose this to be…" added Shino. "You may carry a demon inside of you, but that doesn't make you one… I do not feel different about you just because of that…"

"Even that demon wasn't able to extinguish the flame of youth that is inside you!" yelled Lee. "Shino-kun is right, you're not Kyuubi!"

"I think what I'm about to say goes for all of us…" announced Sakura, as all the eyes turned to her. "We don't care whether you carry a demon inside or not. You proved that you're a Leaf shinobi and that you're someone one can count on. The information was a shock, but I don't think you'll be able to get rid of us from your life with just that…"

The whisker-marks look at all the people gathered around. It seems that Sakura was right. The look in their eyes was different from the one he usually got from people who knew his secret. It wasn't hatred nor disgust. For the first time it was understanding and care. His gaze stopped at Hinata whose head was low.

"N-Naruto-kun…" she whispered with few tears falling from her eyes to the floor. "I… I'm sorry… if I only knew… such pain… such loneliness… I…" with that she fell to her knees and started crying openly.

Naruto stood up from his bed and softly embraced the young, Hyuuga heiress. No-one said anything more. Tsunade only smiled under her nose. "_You found true friend, Naruto… those who except you the way you are… you overcame your past…_"

----------

Few days pasted since that day. Not much changed in Naruto's life since then. Tsunade allowed him to leave the hospital and once more he received hateful glares here and there. Only this time it was easier for him to take that. Now he knew that he found people who accepted him. He was no longer alone.

Right now he was on his wait for a training session with Neji at the Hyuuga estate. As he walked through the opened gates, he noticed the young, Hyuuga genius already practicing with Hiashi.

Instantly they both turned their eyes to the blonde. The Kyuubi vessel greeted them. Neji returned the welcome, though Hiashi only nodded. The head of the Hyuuga learned to not only tolerate the demon child, but also gain some respect for him. He couldn't deny what Naruto did for Neji and that it was the loud mouth who pushed his oldest daughter to train more. He decided that he was unfair for the whisker-marks kid. Of course he still didn't show it too much, but the cold glare he used to give Naruto disappeared from his eyes and for the blonde that was enough.

"I see you arrived…" noticed Hiashi as he walked towards the estate. "I shall take my leave then… I won't be needed, I guess… Neji, just remember to bring Hinata back for dinner…"

"Of course, Hiashi-sama…" the young Hyuuga bowed slightly as the man disappeared inside the house. Neji drank a little tea that was left on the doorsteps and prepared himself for another training session.

"So Hinata isn't around?" asked Naruto curiously.

"No…" replied the young genius shortly. "Lately she's been training with her teammates… she rarely appears around the house…"

"I see…" nodded the blonde.

----------

Kiba breathed heavily as he propped his hands on his own knees. He stared to his right: Akamaru already had enough as the pup laid on the ground and seemed to be falling asleep. The young Inuzuka then looked in front to see Hinata in her fighting. She was also breathing heavily and sweat run down her face. Around the place she stood were many whole created by the dog ninja Gatsuuga.

"Hinata, what'd you say if we take a break?" asked Kiba. "Akamaru can't keep up…"

"Just one, more time, Kiba-kun…" begged the Hyuuga heiress.

"No, Hinata…" Shino cut in. "You should watch out for yourself… your body has its limits... Rest for a while and then we'll resume… I promise…"

"Okay…" she finally nodded with a weak smile.

Kiba only left out a sigh of relief. "_To come this far in such a short time…_" he thought to himself. "_I wonder if he really is worth it…_"

----------

After his training session with Neji was over (_A/N: more like it was interrupted by Tenten who cut in_) Naruto headed to the Ichiraku for his typical dinner. The moment he entered, he spotted team ten near one of the tables in the corner.

"Hey, what are you guys celebrating?" he asked, almost scaring Ino to death.

"What the hell is your problem!" she yelled at the blonde and send a fist right at his face. "You wanna give me a heart-attack idiot?"

"We're cheering for Shikamaru…" answered Chouji when Naruto finally got back to his feet and walked to their table once more. "He was chosen to be responsible for this year's Chuunin Selection Exam…"

"That's great!" announced the blonde. "Say, could you…?" he began, but was immediately interrupted by the lazy chuunin:

"Sorry, but no can do… I know we're friends, but I can't break the rules for you…"

"At this rate I'll never become a chuunin…" complained the loud mouth. "Can I at least join you guys?" and with that he made big, puppy eyes to them.

"Allow him to do that and we'll bankrupt paying his bill…" whispered Chouji to his teammates. Both nodded slightly and then gazed upon the blonde once more.

"I'll pay for myself…" he ensured. And only after that was he allowed to sit with them.

----------

Tsunade was going through another pile of papers. She read so much today that she even thought about buying herself glasses. Her eyes began to hurt, so she decided to take a short break (_A/N: especially since Shizune had a watch at the hospital today and wasn't able to force her back to her duties_). She walked to the window and opened it. Instantly a warm breeze hit her face.

She closed her eyes to enjoy the feeling and without opening them again, she said out loud: "Back already? Did you find out anything?"

Jiraiya, who was standing on the mould, propped against the wall, merely nodded: "HE's hard to track down… I was able to find out that HE was seen near the Ame Gakure few days ago and headed west… HIS destination is unknown though…"

"That certainly isn't much…" replied the Godaime. "But still it's the best information we have… at least HE's not heading towards Konoha… any idea what HIS objective might be?"

"Hard to guess…" responded the toad sannin. "But from the direction He is heading I'd say that HE may have some business with the Akatsuki…"

"It is possible…" nodded Tsunade. "Well, for now just try to track HIM down and find out all you can about HIS current actions… I'm counting on you…"

"I'll do my best…" replied Jiraiya. "But the trip was kinda long and exhausting… plus my fans are getting impatient… you wouldn't mind if I'd stop by to do some research, would you?" and before he knew it he had to duck under his old teammates fist.

----------

Naruto was sitting on top of the Fourth Hokage's head, looking down on the Hidden Leaf Village. He smiled under his nose and glared to his left at the face of Tsunade. "It's going to be painful… having my head curved next to that old bat…" his smile widen at his own joke.

"N-Naruto-kun…" he heard a shaking voice behind him. As he bended back, he noticed Hinata standing right behind him. "May I join you?"

"Sure…" he replied with a wide smile. "Be my guest…"

She returned the smile and slowly settled down next to her crush. For a moment they just stared at the white clouds slowly moving through the blue sky. Finally Hinata decided to break the silence:

"Naruto-kun… I just wanted to tell you that…"

"I know…" he interrupted. "But don't be… it wasn't your fault at all… just the fact that even knowing my secret you still wish to be my friend is enough for me…" and with that he gave her another smile.

"_Only a friend?_" she lowered her head a bit, but immediately raised it again. "I'll always be your friend, Naruto-kun… no matter what'll happen…"

The blonde just smiled: "I know…" and a second later a loud 'burk' came out of his stomach. "Damn I'm hungry… I haven't eaten since… twelve… what'd you say for some ramen, Hinata-chan?"

"_Chan?_" her eyes instantly widen at hearing that. She gave the whisker-marks a warm smile and after a short silence she replied: "Sounds good…"

----------

Meanwhile, far away, in the Hidden Village of Sand the new Kazekage was walking around his tower, gazing at the dark sky that suddenly appeared above the desert. He had short, a bit messy, rusty, red hair, green eyes and a kanji symbol for love on the left side of his forehead. He was wearing a black dress and carried a huge gourd on his back.

"_Storm is coming…_" he thought to himself. "_Something's gonna happen…_"

"So, Itachi and Kisame failed to get the Kyuubi, yeah…" announced a thin girl (_A/N: yeah, I know he is a guy, but I have no info about any kunoichi being a member of the Akatsuki and I wanted them to have at least one… live with it_) wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it. "It doesn't change our plans though, does it?"

"No, it doesn't…" replied another figure, dressed just like the first one. From its posture you might guess he was hunching on purpose. "The nine-tails is their problem, not ours. We were ordered to retrieve the raccoon… nothing more…"

"Yeah…" nodded the first figure. "You must be happy…" she added after a short silence. "Coming back to your own village… brings back memories, yeah…"

"My mood is not of your concern… You should concentrate on getting the Shukaku… unlike the other Jinchuuriki, this one is strong. We must keep our guard up…"

"Don't worry, we'll get the one-tail before the storm starts, yeah…" and with that the figures slowly began walking towards the Hidden Sand gates.

* * *

And that's that for this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review with your opinion once you're done reading. 

Also, the ending of this chapter might gave you an idea of the events that happened in the manga, but I can promise that what's about to happen is way different from what you read in the original.

I think that's all for now. I'll try to write the next chapter soon, but due to exams I do know when the fifth chapter will appear. I think I'll manage to write it before November ends.

Until then: best wishes and hopefully till the next update.


	5. Battle in the Sand

**Hinata:** Ummm… so, I'm here to ask you about the readers questions…

**Shang:** Yeah, I know… let's make this quick, coz I'm a bit short on time lately…

**Hinata:** Okay… well, not too many questions this time, but one of the reviewers would like to know how come, since Shino-kun wears his sunglasses, could you tell he gave me a worried look in the previous chapter…

**Shang:** Guess I sorta forgot that he wears glasses… then again, he could always bend over a little so you could see his eyes from above… and besides, it's not said Hinata (meaning you) even saw that he did that.

**Hinata:** I think this closes the question list…

**Shang:** Right, let's get to the story then!

**IMPORTANT NOTE:** during the next mouth I'll have few exams, so can't really say how often I'll be able to update… it's not like studying gonna swallow my whole, free time, but I have other fics as well… and it's also not like all I do in my free time is write. I'll do my best to make AT LEAST one chapter before Christmas (that's more of a promise, but… you know, shit happens). Also, the position of beta is still open.

**Chapter #5: Battle in the Sand**

Naruto just finished eating his fifth bowl of ramen when the Ichiraku owner came by. The blonde instantly ordered another one and soon after he could continue eating. In the mean time Hinata merely ate her first bowl and having no room for more she thanked Naruto's favorite restaurateur.

As more noodles vanished in the whisker-marks boy's mouth, they both heard a familiar voice coming from behind: "Oi, Naruto!"

As the teens turned around they noticed a man with big scar across his face and medium-length, black hair, clipped in a short ponytail. We wore a chuunin vast and had his headband in his forehead.

"Iruka-sensei!" yelled Naruto, releasing few noodles from his mouth. "How've you been?"

"Fine… sorry I wasn't able to visit you when you were in a hospital… my students are giving me a hard time…" he sighed, but pretty soon a smile appeared on his face.

"Konohamaru is a pain in the butt, isn't he?" the blonde grinned at that.

"Actually, he became a gennin just today…" replied the chuunin.

"WHAT?" Naruto yelled from the bottom of his lungs. "You mean he caught up to me?"

"Looks like it…" and with that it was Iruka who grinned. "So, are you two on a date or something?" and with that he looked at Hinata who blushed slightly at the thought.

"That's not it…" she replied after a moment and even though she tried to hide it, the chuunin still managed to sense sadness in her voice. "We're just spending time together…"

"I see…" nodded the scar-face. "_Sorry, Hinata… someday he'll get it…_"

"Iruka-sensei, you wanna join us?" asked the blonde. "I'd also like to hear details about Konohamaru's new team! Who's on it and who'll they're getting as their sensei… also what's new in your life…"

"You're… not just looking for someone to pay your bill, are you?"

----------

Four jounins were laying on the ground, each with blood and burn-marks on them. Looking at the carnage with no emotions on his face was a man in black cloak with red clouds on it and a big, scorpion-like tail coming from under his cloak.

"You just can't control yourself, can you?" he asked his companion who was a tall girl with long, blonde hair, clipped in a ponytail. "With all that rocket that damn clay creatures of yours made we soon might have the whole Hidden Sand on our backs…"

"Yeah, yeah…" replied the female. "But if we wouldn't killed them, they would most likely spot and destroy the scout I've send into the village, yeah. We shouldn't allow that…"

And then, as on queue, she was forced to jump into the air, avoiding a huge, sand hand that came from the ground, trying to grab her. Only thanks to her reflexes was she able to dodge, but just by few inches.

Her partner looked to his right and spotted a certain red-head boy, wearing black dress and a gourd on his back. The man also noticed a kanji symbol for love on his forehead.

"See…" smiled the girl as she landed on her feet. "We don't even have to go inside the village, he came to us. He is our target, isn't he?" and with that she turned to the boy. "So, you heard our fight or was it something else?"

The red-head simply held out his hand and opened it, thus releasing what was once a bird made out of clay. The blonde looked at hers creation a bit pissed.

The gourd carrier gazed upon the girl with emotionless face and finally said: "If it was me you wanted, you should have asked. There was no need to kill them…" at this he turned his green eyes to the fallen sand-nins. "Now I can't let you go…"

"Yeah, I heard few things about you…" replied the girl. "One of the stronger Jinchuuriki… I was hoping to test your skills in a fight, but it seems I won't have that honor… so careless…"

And it was only then that the boy noticed the scorpion's tail coming right at him. Instantly a wall of sand arise, blocking the attack. But, surprisingly for him, the tail went right through the blockade and stabbed the red-head in the arm.

"The famous Sabaku no Gaara…" the man said with sarcasm. "I'm a bit disappointed…" but then his words froze in his throat as the sand-nin's body turned into sand and felt to millions of pieces. "_Suna bushin…?_" the scorpion's eyes seemed to widen a bit as a huge hand of sand appeared from the underground, this time succeeding in grabbing the man's partner.

"Seems that the ones who got careless… were you" came Gaara's voice. As the scorpion's tail turned in the direction it came from, he noticed the red-head standing on a nearby rock, slowly closing his palm. "Sabaku SouSou" and instantly the sand hand (_A/N: this rhyme is totally unplanned_) closed as well.

But a moment later, surprising the red-head a bit, the hand exploded into pieces as well.

"Looks like you were right, Sasori…" announced the girl as she walked over to the man. "This one is stronger then the last one… may I have him? An artist must try new things, yeah…"

"If it wasn't for me you'd be death, crushed by his sand, Deidara…" responded the man. "I know his style of fighting better then you do, so leave it to me… you'll have the next one…"

"This is no fun, yeah…" replied the girl. "So will you at least allow me to play with those that are coming this way? It'd be… problematic if they'd interfere, yeah…"

"Do whatever you won't... just stay out of this…" the girl smiled as she took of towards the gate. The red-head looked after her.

"_Those that are coming this way?_" Gaara repeated in his mind. "_Could it be?_" his eyes widen slightly at the thought as he turned to face his opponent. "Sorry to bring you down to earth, but I won't allow you to kill more of my shinobies. Looks like I'm gonna have to dispose of you quickly and then take care of your friend…"

"Funny thing…" noticed Sasori. "The last Jinchuuriki we took said almost the exact thing…"

----------

"Are you certain, Kankuro?" asked a girl with blonde hair, clipped into four ponytails, dressing purple. She had a huge fan attached to her back. "If that's true we should alert the village… they are…"

"If we do that, many will die…" replied a man wearing black with purple tattoos on his face and three scrolls on the back. "And having so many people to protect, Gaara won't manage to avoid attacks himself. Besides, there's no point in alarming the village if the information might be false…" but with that he froze in his tracks, avoiding a small, clay spider that felt from the sky.

The sand-nin slowly walked to the clay bug surprised when suddenly it got back to life and jumped right at him. It wasn't able to land on him though as strong wind blown it right into the wall of the cliff. The bug soon exploded.

"My, my… always prepared… this might be interesting, yeah…" announced the girl in black cloak with red clouds on it. "What say we get started?" and with that she reached for her bag and placed some clay in her hand. It was then that the sand-nins noticed a mouth in the girl's palm.

"What is she?" asked the fan-girl.

Kankuro just reached for his scrolls and instantly unwrapped them. Each had a kanji symbol. The first said 'karasu' (crow), the second was named 'kuroari' (black ant) and the last had 'sanshoouo' (salamander) on it. As he formed few, quick hand seals, puppet came out of the scrolls.

The first one had three eyes on the head, spiky, black hair and many hands. Another was different mostly in the shape of its head and that it had horns on it. The last was a huge, salamander-like puppet with large jaws. All of them had black material on them.

"So, you're one of those famous, Sand puppeteer, no?" asked Deidara as she took the clay her hand-mouth chewed and performing a short set of hands seals the small clay form turned into a long saber with the blade bended back a bit. "Indeed this is going to be interesting, yeah…" and with that she jumped right at the puppeteer.

But before she could reach him, the other kunoichi stood in her way and swiped her fan again, creating another tornado, aimed right at her. Deidara stabbed the blade on the saber into the ground to stop and once her feet touched the ground, she instantly changed directions, avoiding the slashing wind.

Immediately the puppet called Kuroari appeared next to her and tried to imprison her inside itself. Acting on instinct, she performed another chain of hand seals and vanished underground just to jumped to the surface a moment later, right behind Kankuro.

But as soon as Deidara came into view, the puppet Karasu shoot a kunai with poison on it from its mouth. It was a direct hit. Surprisingly though the Akatsuki member started to widen like she was about to explode.

"_Damn, that was a decoy!_" noticed the sand-nin, trying to cover himself with one of his puppets. However, it seemed unneeded as the clay bushin was blown away by another sand kunoichi's blow.

"Don't worry, I got you back" she announced, propping on her fan.

"_Even though they're just brats they're able to work this good together…_" Deidara thought to herself as she placed more clay in her palm's mouth. "_I should stop playing around and get serious then, yeah_" and with that she opened her palm, releasing few, tiny bird's models. A second later, after forming another set of hand seals the birds came to life. "This is more entertaining then I've expected…"

"The real one's over there…" noticed Kankuro as he looked on top of the gorge (_A/N: to all those who aren't aware of the fact, the entrance to Suna Gakure is a gorge… guess I forgot to remind you of that… sorry_). And it was also then that he saw few, small birds heading right at him and his sister. "Temari!"

"Gotcha…" replied the girl as she prepared herself to unleash another tornado. Yet she froze in her tracks as Deidara landed right behind her, prepared to pierce her with her saber. The Sand kunoichi instantly turned around and blocked the blade with her fan, however there were already birds coming at her.

Deidara smiled as she saw explosion on the other side of the opened fan. Then she turned to look at the boy with tattoos on his face. The puppet called Kuroari was standing right in front of him with smoke coming from the inside. "_So he imprisoned the birds inside his puppet? The charge wasn't really that big but it is surprising that this marionette withstood it…_"

A second later Kuroari felt into pieces, leaving the puppeteer with only two dolls. But strangely, Kankuro was smiling. The Akatsuki member looked at him puzzled for a moment before she noticed chakra gathering on the other side of the fan.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu" came Temari's voice as she grabbed her fan and in a fracture of a second she swiped it, only this time summoning a big weasel armed in reaping hooks. And that mammal was heading right at the clay artist.

Deidara once more hid herself underground, avoiding the attack just barely, only this time the sand-nins were prepared for this. Kankuro instantly made a quick motion with his hand and the puppet called Sanshoouo opened its mouth and blasted a powerful bomb right in the place their opponent went underground.

Tons of sands were lifted into the air and felt on the sand siblings. Temari used her fan as an umbrella so her vision wouldn't be effected by the sand rain and thanks to that she noticed Deidara charging right at the puppeteer with her saber ready.

"Kankuro, on your right!" she warned her brother and only then spotted another figure attacking the tattooed boy from his left. "_Another clay clone!_" she figured as the blade carried by the second one stabbed her brother while the bushin was destroyed by Sanshoouo.

At the very same moment sand stopped raining. Once again smirked appeared on Deidara's face just to be wiped out from it once more as puppet hands came out from under Kankuro's dress and grabbed the clay user.

Unfortunately Deidara exploded once more. "_This one was a bushin as well…_" noticed Temari as parts of Karasu fell all over the gorge. She gazed at Kankuro who was looking in front of him, where the real Akatsuki kunoichi stood.

"I see…" announced Deidara. "So you used the Kawarimi to switch places with your puppet and that way trap me… sadly you didn't expect me to create two bushins… now you have only one puppet left… it troubles me how did you survived the explosion back then though…" at those words she turned to Temari.

"I blocked that one…" stated Kankuro, drawing her attention to him. "I actually destroyed all the birds that were coming at me with Karasu and Sanshoouo alone. I used Kuroari to block the birds that were coming at her and then instantly pulled it back to me… that way you thought I used it to save myself and Temari got the element of surprise with her summoning skill…"

"Clever, yeah…" said Deidara with a smile. "The sand-nins are skilled… However staying here for longer wasn't our plan, you I guess I should be finishing this…" and with that she put more clay into her palm's mouth.

----------

"_His tail is filled with poison…_" noticed Gaara as he looked at his opponent. "_Also his body seems to be more of a puppet so I can assume he's a puppeteer, just like Kankuro. If that is so, he is a former Suna shinobi…this might be problematic…_"

"Let's start…" asked Sasori as he raised his hand and instantly hundreds of small needles shoot right at the Sand's Kazekage. But all of them were stopped by another wall of sand.

Yet as the sand wall covered Gaara's sight, the scorpion-man prepared his other hand and soon a bomb was send flying at the red-head. The wall stopped that attack as well, but the Kazekage's eyes widen as smoke started to spread around and was quickly getting closer to him.

"_Poison gas…_" noticed the Shukaku vessel as he motioned his hands quickly and soon a pillar of hard sand rose from bellow him, lifting him above the smoke. As he circled his hands sand balls shoot out of the pillar and headed right at the puppeteer. As the bullets were getting closer to the target, the sand-nin began performing a new chain of hand seals.

Sasori instantly lifted his tail up and before the red-head knew it shurikens flew at the sand balls, exploding once they hit the coming bullet. None of Gaara's missiles reached the puppeteer.

"_He had explosive tags attached to them?_" wondered the Kazekage. "_That's what it seems… he's no ordinary shinobi…_" and with that thought he finished his set of hand seals, calling out: "Sabaku Tomurai" and before Sasori knew it, spikes of hard sand started to shoot out from the ground, coming in his direction.

The puppeteer used his tail as a spring and jumped high into the air. As he found himself on the same height as Gaara was, he opened his mouth and before the Kazekage knew it, another missile was coming his way.

The red-head moved his left hand to the right and instantly sand wave came from the pillar he was standing on, blocking the bullets way. As Gaara heard the explosion on the other side of the blockade, he performed a quick set on hand seals with his left hand only and calmly called out: "Suna Senbon…"

In a fracture of a second hundreds of small, sand needles shoot from the wall and headed right at Sasori who was just reaching the ground. Being still in mid-air there was no way for him to dodge.

"_This brat is better then I've expected…_" he thought to himself. "_If this keeps up I could be forced to use my full strength…_" and with that a small, metal ring came out of his back. Before the red-head knew it, metal plates started to spread above Sasori's body, creating a shield that blocked all of his sand senbons.

"_Not killing him is a pain in the rear…_" the puppeteer said to himself as he aimed his left hand, the one with metal all over it, at the Kazekage and the shoot it at his opponent.

The bullet went right through the sand wall Gaara created, however the red-head just moved aside in order to avoid the hit. But, surprisingly for him, once the bullet was located behind him, hundreds of small spikes shoot out of it, all coming directly at him.

In a fracture of a second Gaara's gourd turned into sand and created a solid shield on his back, thus stopping all the needles that were flying at him.

"_That sand of his is beginning to work on my nerves…_" stated Sasori as he watched the whole scene from the ground. Then he noticed the boy performing a new set of hands seals.

"Suna Shuriken" came the red-head's voice and before the puppeteer noticed new sand bullets were coming at him at an incredible speed. Not having enough time to aim and destroy them all, Sasori jumped back, avoiding the attack but as his feet touched the ground, a huge hand of sand reached out to grab him.

Having no, other alternative, he jumped to his right, once more avoiding the hit, but surprisingly for him, he felt he's sinking. As he looked down he noticed that he was standing in some kind of quick sands. He then looked at the red-head, who simply closed his palm.

"Sabaku SouSou…" Gaara said calmly as the sand that surrounded the scorpion-man crushed the puppet into pieces.

"_All those sand missiles… and then that hand… it was all just to make me fell into his trap…_" figured Sasori as he jumped out from his puppet, avoiding death. "_He is strong… probably matching the Third… it'd be interesting to check if I'm right…_" and with that he reached out to his hostel.

The Kazekage looked at the hooded man coldly as he began performing new seals but then both of them stopped in their tracks due to a certain, female voice:

"I suggest both of you to stop, yeah" announced Deidara as she was standing on top of a huge, clay bird. But what surprised Gaara even more was a figure that was laying motionless on the bird's back. It was Temari. "Listen, rust-head, if you want that blonde alive, you'll let us leave and turn yourself to us… as of when and where, you'll get information once we're out of here, yeah… now, Sasori-danna, I suggest you hop on…" and with that the bird started to lower it's flight.

The hooded man jumped onto the bird and soon after it took off once more.

"Now, I know what you're thinking, yeah…" stated the clay user. "Why shouldn't I just go after you and take that girl back… well, you could do that, but then that guy with make-up on his face will surely bleed to death… it's your call…" and saying that she ordered the bird to fly away.

Gaara looked after them for a moment and then headed right towards the gorge, where his brother was supposed to be dying.

----------

The Kazekage was carrying his brother, who was barely moving, towards the village. The puppeteer looked up to his red-headed sibling and gave him a weak smile. "I thought Temari and I will be enough as back-up… but it seems I misjudged the Akatsuki… forgive me, Gaara… because of my carelessness they got her…"

"It's not your fault…" replied the Kazekage. Even though his face shown no emotions, Kankuro could felt sadness in his voice. "Besides, I'll bring her back…" and with that they reached the Suna hospital.

The medics and few ANBU instantly surrounded them. Gaara gave his brother to the doctors and then turned to the masked men: "There are puppet parts near the entrance and in the gorge… collect them all, but don't mix one with another… and send an urgent message to Konoha about the situation… we must act quickly…"

----------

"So, the Akatsuki started moving again…" said a man who was standing on top of a nearby mountain, watching the whole battle. "Seems that they grew a bit impatient during those three years… but this is convenient for me…"

* * *

And this concludes this chappie. Hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review once you're done reading. Pretty please.

Now, coz my time's limited, here's a quick, jutsu encyclopedia for this chapter:

_Suna Bushin_ (Sand Clone) - an advanced type of clone, made from sand. It does not disappear when attacked - but it does have a sand like appearance, and would not make a good decoy. Although, it can attack, and travel along the ground in a sand state

_Sabaku SouSou_ (Desert Graveyard) – jutsu performed by Gaara. The sand is send to enwrap the enemy, through the use of chakra (controlling the air and sand). The inward movement crushes anything trapped inside

_Kuchiyose no Jutsu_ (Summoning Skill) – in order for this jutsu to be performed, the user must sign a contract, perform the right hand seals and sacrifice a tiny bit of his own blood. If all those requirements are made, the user may summon an ally. It doesn't have to be a living creature, but in most cases shinobies summon legendary 'beasts' to help them. Contracts known from the original 'Naruto' so far are:

Uzumaki Naruto, Jiraiya, Yondaime Hokage – frogs

Tsunade – slugs

Orochimaru – snakes

Hatake Kakashi – dogs

Temari – weasels

_Sabaku Tomurai_ (Desert Funeral) – jutsu invented by Gaara. The user first sends his/hers chakra into the sand and then, with the use of right hand seals, makes the sand came from the ground in the form of a spike, harden by the users chakra.

_Suna Senbon_ (Sand Senbons) – jutsu invented by Gaara. The whole secret behind it is to create plenty senbons out of the hard sand with the use of ones chakra.

_Suna Shuriken_ (Sand Shuriken) – a jutsu used by Gaara. Practically the user just throws shurikens at his enemy and then, using chakra of course, surrounds them with sand, making them harder.

And this seriously concludes this chapter.

Take care and hopefully till the next update.


	6. Rescue Team Gather

Okay, I know it took me a bit longer then a month this time and sorry about that. Unexpected, extra work came out and I didn't had too much free time. That's also the reason I wasn't about to write it before Christmas. Hope that all of you had great holidays.

**IMPORTANT NOTE:**I also have to announce that my exams are getting close and I really have to sit down to studying and as a result I think the possibility that the seventh chapter will be uploaded this month is rather low. To tell the truth, in order to submit this chapter I had to hurry up, so I wasn't even able to double check the whole thing, so I hope you'll forgive me possible, grammar mistakes. I promise to work on my grammar and spelling in the next chapter… or at least find a good beta (if anyone's interested, that position is still open).

It came out shorter then I expected and I'm that all that happy with it, but I still hope you'll enjoy it.

Also, one last thing before I start: I'd like to thank you all for encouraging words. It really gives me the inspiration to work even harder. Hope you'll enjoy what's in stored.

And now off to the story:

**Chapter #6: Rescue Team Gather**

Kankuro slowly sat on his bed, while holding the left side of his stomach, which was covered in bandages that were red now. He looked around and noticed that he was in a hospital room.

"So, you finally woke up…" came a voice and as the puppeteer looked in the direction it came from, he noticed Gaara standing in the corner, his face showing no emotions, as always. "It's been almost five days…"

"I slept that long?" Kankuro asked surprised and then recalled what happened. "How's Temari? Is she alright?"

"The Akatsuki got her…" the red-head replied calmly, but the puppeteer knew him too long for not noticing both sadness and anger in his voice. "They're willing to exchange her for me though…"

"And what's Konoha's reaction to that?"

"They've send few shinobies as support… they should be arriving here soon…"

----------

Naruto ran with the rest of the group through the desert. They were getting closer to the gates of Suna Gakure. He looked in front of him as he recalled in his head how it came to this.

_FLASHBACK_

"Come on, Tsunade-baachan, give us something challenging!" begged the Kyuubi vessel. "We're meant to do greater things! We're not gennins anymore!"

"Actually, you still are…" reminded Sakura.

"_With all that yelling…_" Kakashi sighed to himself. "_The Fifth is not as calm as the Sandaime was. And the one to get in trouble will be me…_"

"Look, you blonde shrimp!" yelled back the Godaime, putting her foot on her desk. "You'll do as I say, coz I'm the Hokage right now!"

Naruto just 'hmpfed' and you could tell Tsunade was ready to wipe the floor with him, yet they were interrupted by Shizune, who ran right into the room, carrying a small scroll: "Tsunade-sama, it's an emergency! Important report from the Hidden Sand!"

The blonde Hokage calmed down, took the scroll from her subordinate and started reading.

"So, the Akatsuki made another move…" she said out loud to no-one in particular. Naruto twitched at hearing that. "They attacked Suna in order to obtain their Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara… in the end they failed, but still manage to kidnap the Sand leader's sister and offered an exchange…" she then looked at the team that was standing in front of her and noticed that Naruto's eyes turned red for a short moment. "_Jiraiya did mention that he became friends with the current Kazekage, but why he got so mad?_" she thought to herself and after a short silence, she announced: "Alright, team number seven, I have a new mission for you. You are to go to the Sand, find out the situation and aid them any way possible…"

As she said so, the door opened again and this time it was Shikamaru and his team that entered the room. The lazy chuunin bowed quickly and requested: "Tsunade-sama, I was the one who decoded the report, so I know the situation. I'd like you to allow me to join Kakashi-san's cell in this mission…"

"Huh?" Godaime's eyebrow went up. "Since when are you so into anything?"

"Well…" began Shikamaru, but was instantly cut off by Ino:

"He has his reasons, Tsunade-sama… Asuma-sensei already agreed to it, so with your acceptance the three of us will assist Sakura and her team on this mission…"

"Fine…" replied the slug sannin after a moment of hesitation. "However, you guys will receive a new team member…" she announced, turning to face Naruto's cell. "He'll be waiting for you at the gates… you're dismissed!"

_xxx_

The next day in the morning both Kakashi's and Asuma's cells were waiting at the gates of Hidden Leaf for the additional member to the silver-haired jounin's team… and for the silver-haired jounin himself. Soon the one who was supposed to replace Sasuke came into view. It was Hinata.

"Hinata-chan, what are you doing here?" asked Naruto, jumping to the girl.

"_Chan?_" Ino's eyebrow went up. "_They finally started dating?_"

"Tsunade-sama assigned me to assist you in your mission to the Hidden Sand" replied the white-eyed kunoichi. "She said that my eyes can prove to be useful…"

"Welcome on board then!" announced the blonde gennin, shaking the girls hand.

_END FLASHBACK_

He let his memories get blown away as they reached the entranced to the Suna Gakure. The one to welcome them was Baki: "Glad you made it. Please, follow me. Kazekage-sama is waiting for you…"

They followed the sand-nin through the sandy streets of the Hidden Sand village. It was Hinata's first time visiting the village, so she kept looking around curiously.

The village itself was located in a large crater. All the building were made out of white brick. Their shapes made an impression of being rather primitive: they were square or just a pyramid of circles. There was no glass in the windows, which were either square or round, but that could be explained by the fact that the temperature was always high in these parts, so the local people would prefer to have fresh air in their house all the time.

The sand covered the streets on which there were no wagons with food, which were so popular in the Leaf. The only plants that appeared from time to time were palms, she did spotted a lot of wells, which were practically on every street. Rarely she also noticed fountains, decorated with stunning statues. Usually the spaces around them were filled with palms and bushes that could withstand the dry land.

Most of the villagers were dressed white, quite similar to Baki. He also noticed few children playing here and there, yet she couldn't spot any playgrounds.

Finally their reached the Kazekage's palace. It was a high tower that was in a shape of a pyramid created from circles put on one another (for the widest one to the smallest). Half way from the bottom to the top was a huge circle with the kanji symbol for 'wind' drawn in it.

After a short walk they found themselves in front of the Kazekage's office. Baki asked them to enter and so they did to find Gaara standing near the window, looking at his village.

"Thank the Hokage for taking action so fast once you get back to your village" he said, slowly turning around to face the leaf-nins.

"What's the situation?" asked Kakashi.

"The Akatsuki attacked the Suna…" began Baki. "Temari and Kankuro held one of them back at the entrance to the village while Kazekage-sama faced another on his own outside town gates. Temari and Kankuro lost their battle: the girl was taken by the Akatsuki members, while Kazekage-sama brought Kankuro to the hospital with a large, stomach wound…"

"The one I fought was a puppeteer, a former shinobi of the Sand known as Sasori of the Red Sand" added Gaara. "I've destroyed his main puppet but it seems he has at least few more. In a fight he uses a rare poison which our medics cannot identify. According to what Kankuro said, the one he fought uses clay…"

"So what is expected from us?" asked Asuma, stepping forward.

"I just got a message where the Akatsuki invent to exchange Temari for me…" announced the Godaime, dropping some clay on his desk along with a small scroll. "I was prepared to go, however the Elders forbid it. They explain their decision by the fact that securing Shukaku is the main priority and the Sand must concentrate on achieving that goal. Apparently they don't feel like risking any of the Sand shinobies lives in the attend to rescue their Sand comrade. What I'm asking you to do is head to the place of exchange and do everything that is in your power to save my sister… however, treat your lives as priority."

"Sand politics always seemed complicated to me" sighed Kakashi. "However they do have a point in trying to prevent Shukaku landing in Akatsuki's hands. Still just two teams on such a mission can be a bit too little…"

"I'm aware of that" nodded Gaara. "That's why you'll have a Sand advisor coming along. She knows the one known as Sasori very well, so she should be quite useful for you. Unfortunately that's all I can give you…"

"Since we'll be facing S-class criminals, I'm afraid this may be too little" announced Shikamaru. "Something like an antidote to that poison you told us about would be useful. Also, since you said that you were able to destroy that puppet, it might give us an advantage if we'd be allowed to see it in order to find out how it works…"

"I can help out with an antidote" proposed Sakura. "Tsunade-sama thought me about poisons, so with the right equipment and herbs I might be able to come up with something…"

"Our medical resources will be at your disposal" replied Gaara, nodding towards the pink-haired kunoichi. "As for the puppet mechanism, Baki can lead you to the place where our puppeteers work on putting Sasori's tool together. Perhaps they'll be able to provide you with some, helpful information…"

"All that's left is to ask how much time we have for preparations?" asked Kakashi.

"Unfortunately time isn't on our side" replied Baki. "In order to get to the exchange spot in time, you'll have to leave tomorrow morning."

"I should got to work on that antidote right away then" announced Sakura.

And so everyone made their preparations for tomorrow's mission. None of them even noticed that the day have passed and the sun started to come down. The temperature dropped and a nice breeze started to blow from the south-east.

As the sky become red and the sun was more then halfway hidden, the buildings in the Suna Gakure started to create long shadows, making the village look grim and unfriendly.

Hinata stood on top of one of the buildings and looked down on the still busy streets of the Hidden Sand village. She smiled feeling a gentle breeze blow in her face and didn't even turned around when she noticed someone's presence. "Are you trying to scare me, Naruto-kun?" she asked with her back still turned.

"Damn, with that Byakugan of yours, there's no way to lay a prank on you!" mowed the blonde. "That's not fair!"

The girl giggled at the comment. "Sorry, but I can't help it…" and with that she finally turned to her crush, smiling.

"I know" replied the loud mouth laughing and scratching the back of his head. He then came closer to her and stopped only when he was beside her. They stayed silent for few moments, before he decided to speak up: "Hinata-chan, since the time we left Konoha I wanted to ask you something…" she gave him a puzzled look, but kept quiet. "Why…" he began, but then shut his mouth, like he was looking for the right words. "Why did you accepted this mission? I mean, neither Kiba nor Shino take part in it…"

"It was an order" she responded simply, doing her best to hide a small blush that started to appear on her face. "And Tsunade-sama had a point thinking that my abilities can be helpful. Besides Shino-kun went out on a mission with his father again, so my team was free from our duties anyway…"

"Can't argue with that" nodded the blonde, earning a questioning look from the white-eyed kunoichi. "I mean, I saw you fight with Kisame. You're strong and since it's the Akatsuki that's our enemy, we need skilled ninjas. It's good that you're here…"

At hearing that Hinata's face became more red then the sky was at that time, but Naruto didn't seem to noticed, because he just said: "We'll, I'm off. We should rest since we're leaving in the morning" and left.

The Hyuuga heiress stood on the roof for few more minutes though, waiting for the blush do disappear from her face.

----------

The next day all eight, leaf-nin's were making their final preparations for the trip. Surprisingly for them, Kakashi came on time. Gaara, along with Kankuro, stood with them at the gates, waiting for the Sand's advisor to show up.

After a short while he finally appeared. It turned out to be an old woman, incredibly short with medium-length, blonde hair (_A/N: I assume they were blonde_), wearing a cap and worn out robe.

"Wait a minute, that's our back-up?" yelled Naruto irritated. "She looks like she's about to fall into pieces at anytime! And I'm not even sure if that's a woman!" and before he knew it the tiny female was coming right at his head with a kick.

The blonde bended under the kick, spun around on his left foot and aimed a kick of his own in the back of the aggressor's head. But surprisingly for him the sand-nin shoot her hands back and grabbed his leg before it connected with her body.

Using Naruto's leg as a break, the woman turned in mid-air to face the blonde and still holding on to his leg aimed another kick in his face. In an instant the blonde performed his signature move and made his clone stop the attack.

And before anyone of them could launch another attack, they both got trapped in the sand fist. "I believe that is enough" announced Gaara with his usual voice. "Chiyo-san is one of the Sand's top puppeteers. She'll also Sasori's grandmother, thus she knows him well. Among all the Sand shinobies, she's the one that can prove most useful in the battle you're about to enter…" and with that said he released the two from his grip.

"_That old hag…_" thought Naruto, giving the woman an angry glare. "_She's pretty good…_"

"Listen brat, before you were born I've seen more battle then you ever will, so show me some respect" ordered the one called Chiyo.

"We should get going" announced Kakashi, not really interested in what just happened. "We have a long trip before us and it's better to travel before the sun raises too high…" the other leaf-nins only nodded and a second later they all went on their way.

"You think they'll save Temari?" asked Kankuro when the rescue team disappeared from their view.

"He'll do it…" assured the Kazekage, not even turning to his brother. "I'm sure he will…"

----------

After a half-day trip the Leaf shinobies along with Chiyo reached their destination which turned out to be a wide canyon. The jounins looked around in search for possible traps and ambushes.

"It seems clear, but don't forget we're dealing with the Akatsuki" reminded Asuma. "Expect anything…" but then his words froze in his throat as he looked behind him at the small field of rocks. He glared at the silver-haired jounin, who also seemed to sensed what he just did. "Kakashi, is that…?" he began but the Sharingan user interrupted:

"Seems like it. Listen, it looks like we won't be able to help you out with this mission" he said, turning to the young shinobies and the Sand's advisor. "Carry out your duty and Asuma and I will get back as soon as we'll be able too…"

"Asuma-sensei, what's wrong?" asked Chouji, looking confused.

But the jounin didn't answer. He just looked at Kakashi and after the silver-haired nodded they both disappeared from others view.

"I'll never understand Leaf shinobies" mowed Chiyo as she turned to the young ninjas. "Anyways, it seems we're on our own now. I hope you all remember the plan…"

----------

Kakashi and Asuma reached the rocky field and began to look around. "We know you're here!" announced the smoker. "Your chakra can be easily sensed. Show yourself!"

A second later a boy with medium-length, blonde hair, formed in dreadlocks walked from behind a nearby rock. He had hazel eyes and was wearing a black and yellow shirt and pants in the same colors. He had a small scar across his left cheek and had a Konoha headband protector with the slashed Leaf symbol on his forehead.

"And I really hoped I won't have to face you… Kakashi-san…" announced the boy, who seemed to be around twenty. "Last time we fought it got a bit… unpleasant…" then his gaze rested on Asuma. "But I'm quite sure we haven't met before. Mind telling me who you are?"

"Sarutobi Asuma…" replied the smoker. "And you are that S-class criminal and a missing-nin, Kengo, right? A former Akatsuki member…"

"Indeed I am…" nodded the blonde, smiling slightly. "I guess I should be honored to know that the Leaf still carries memories of me…"

"Don't get too happy" interrupted Kakashi. "We'll take you down and bring you to your final justice. You can either come peacefully or we can take you by force…"

"Interesting…" replied the one called Kengo. "And you think that just the two of you will be enough to defeat me? I didn't came here to fight you. All I want is to speak with my former partner… then again, I'm wondering what you learned during those ten years, Kakashi-san…" and saying so a wide grin appeared on his face as he went into a fighting stance.

----------

Deidara looked at the tall pale of clay that she created, on top of which Temari was tied up by clay chains. "Now, isn't that spectacular, Sasori-sama?" she turned to her partner whose face was completely covered by a hood.

"You know what I think of your type of art…" he replied simply. "Besides, now it's not the time to talk about that. He came…" and with that he raised his head, thus revealing a face of a young boy.

Deidara followed his gaze and noticed a certain, redhead sand-nin in a jet black robe with a large gourd on his back walking their way. "It's time, yeah…"

* * *

And with that chapter six is finished. Hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review once you're done reading.

Well, that 'HE' everyone talked about finally showed himself (I was thinking about leaving his first appearance for later, but since so many of you wanted to know, I decided to reveal few details about him already).

No jutsus this time around, but there should be some next time.

Before I finish this, I'd just like to wish you all that this year will be better then your previous one.

Keep warm and hopefully till the next update.


	7. Puppet Theater

Sorry it took me so long to update this one. I had it written a while ago, but a friend of mine accidentally deleted it from my PC and I had to start all over again… then I got a huge author's block… ah, the horror. But I managed to finish it now and so I'm uploading. Hope you'll like it.

In reply to some reviews: as for Kengo you'll learn quite a bit about him in the right time, so just be patient about that. Mostly action in this one, but after the Suna mission you'll get to see a bit more romance. As for the characters being a bit OOC: well, I did warned about Hinata… as for the others I'm trying to keep them the way they were in the manga as much as I can (then again it's been three years so they should change at least a bit, you know).

Now, without further to do:

**Chapter #7: Puppet Theater**

Gaara walked towards the two, missing-nins slowly. None of them said anything, at least until the redhead stopped a meter or two away from the Akatsuki members. They stared at each other for a moment, before Sasori decided to speak up: "I didn't really think you'll come…" and with that he launched a kunai right at the sand-nin.

The Kazekage jumped to his left, dodging the incoming knife and instantly threw a handful of shurikens at the two. However, before the shinobi stars were able to reach the missing-nins, they were all deflected by clay bullets, which shoot out of Deidara's mouth-hand.

"I guess that was to be expected, yeah…" announced the girl with a smile appearing on her face. "But I can say that you guys did put a lot of effort into it, yeah… you even used another Jinchuuriki so we won't notice it's just henge too soon… however, we're not as stupid, as you think, yeah…" and with that another Deidara appeared on top of the pale, blocking Shikamaru and Ino, who were just reaching for Temari.

Instantly Sakura and Hinata jumped out of their hideout and stood right next to the redhead and Chouji along with Chiyo appeared on top of a nearby rock.

"No point in hiding, I guess…" announced Gaara and after performing a quick hand seal he turned into Naruto. "But with my Kyuubi chakra you should have it difficult that I'm a different Jinchuuriki, so how did you know?"

"I fought the one you transformed into…" replied Sasori calmly. "He was forced to use a bit of his demon power against me, therefore I'm aware of the difference… nothing can escape the eye of an artist… Seven against two… that won't do, Deidara…"

"Good thing we decided to prepare ourselves, yeah…" replied the girl that was still hanging above the two leaf-nins on the pale. "And at that rate, the odds are against you guys…" and with that a smirk started to appear on her face.

Before anyone knew it, two other, Deidara's replications appeared right behind Chiyo and Chouji and tens of hooded figures jumped out from under the sand, surrounding Naruto, Hinata and Sakura.

"Now, shall we begin?" asked Sasori with a smile appearing on his face.

----------

"_Dammit, I can hardly keep up with my eyes, not to mention the rest of the body…_" Asuma cursed in his mind as another attack with his hand knives missed the blonde's face. "_And Kakashi doesn't seem to be doing much better… at that rate, we'll lose badly…_"

Kengo jumped away and onto the nearby rock. He glanced down at the two Leaf jounins with a smirk. "Konoha's elite… is that really the best you can do?"

Kakashi slowed down and performed a quick set of hand seals. As he finished, his right hand got surrounded with chakra that made a weird sound. The missing-nin's smile just widen at the sight: "Honestly, Kakashi-san, do you really believe I'll fall for the same trick twice? You should figure that during those ten years I've invented a way to stop that damn Chidori of yours… just because you almost killed me with it once, doesn't mean you'll succeed once more… and it eats a lot of your chakra…"

"You never know unless you try…" replied Kakashi calmly as he charged at the blonde at an incredible speed.

"_How dumb can you be?_" wondered Kengo as his smile kept getting wider. "_In order for that Raikiri to get me he'll need to jump up here and when he does he'll become an easy target… Kakashi-san, I'm disappointed…_"

But to his surprise the silver-haired jounin came to a sliding stop right before the rock and hit it with the Chidori, breaking it into thousands of pieces. As the ground started to disappear from under his feet, Kengo lost his balance and started falling with the rocks.

"_A diversion…_" he noticed a little too late. "_I felt for the oldest one in the scrolls…_" he cursed as he propped his left hand on the ground in order to avoid falling on his head. But the moment his hand touched the sand, Asuma launched an attack in his stomach.

Acting on instinct, the blonde spun around, avoiding the hit and then, still 'standing' on his left hand only, kicked the smoker in the back of his head. His eyes widen a second later though as he saw that Asuma, instead of being send flying away, used his knives as breaks and remained in place.

The smoker turn around and aimed another attack in the blonde's stomach, surprisingly however the sand under Kengo's hand exploded, creating a huge crater and blowing the leaf-nin away, saving the missing-nin at the same time.

"_Was that…?_" began Asuma, but the answer was obvious to him. "_So everything I heard about him was true, it seems… this only makes things more difficult then they already are…_"

In the middle of the crater stood the blonde with a smile appearing on his face once more. He looked at Kakashi, who's face, even though it was mostly covered, revealed surprise. "What's with that look, Kakashi-san?" he asked confidently. "You should have expected this would come sooner or later… I did mastered it only recently, but I think I did a good job… wouldn't you agree? Of course I made some improvements to it, since that jutsu's power leaves plenty to wish for…"

"To master it on your own…" began Kakashi, shocked. "And when you only saw it once even… you have gotten stronger since the last time we fought…"

"It goes with the family…" smirked the blonde. "Now, as much as I enjoyed it, my time is valuable so I think I'll be finishing now… do forgive me Kakashi-san, Asuma-san…" and with that he charged at the two leaf-nins.

----------

Ino instantly jumped off the pale and landing safely on the ground she picked out few explosive tags. Meanwhile Shikamaru performed his standard technique, aiming at Deidara: "Kagemane no Jutsu!"

The missing-nins started to crawl up the pale, trying her best to run away from the shadow that was chasing her, but to no veil. Finally, having no, other alternative, she decided to follow the blonde Leaf kunoichi's track and jumped of the pale as well.

The lazy chuunin immediately reached trapped Temari and using his shadow to crawl under the clay chains, making them loosen their grip on the Sand kunoichi, thus freeing the girl. Just then the tags placed by Ino exploded and Shikamaru jumped down with unconscious Gaara's sister in his arms down, in order to avoid crushing hard to the ground.

"_So that's why he used the Shadow Bind… to get me off the pale, yeah…_" Deidara figured as a small smile began to appear on her face. "_His goal from the very beginning was to free that girl first… I felt for a simple trick, yeah… oh well, it's more fun that way…_" and with that she placed some clay in her hand mouth.

"Ninpou: Nendo Hitoya no Jutsu!" called out Deidara as clay shoot out of the hand mouth and started to circle around Chouji, making him almost completely immobile. The boy tried to break free, yet the bind turned out to be too strong.

"_So she uses clay…_" Chiyo announced to herself as she jumped back, throwing shurikens at another blonde's clone. "_A unique ability… she might be hard to take down…_" and that thought appeared in her mind all of the shinobi stars she threw got deflected by a clay kanata created by Deidara.

At the same moment a smirk appeared on Chouji's face and as his 'prison' started to widen, he called out: "Baika no Jutsu!" and before anyone knew it the chubby ninja became three times larger then he already was and with another technique he called out: "Nikudan Sensha!" and suddenly his head, legs and hands disappeared in his body, which started to spin at an incredible speed.

Instantly the clay blocking him got smashed into hundreds of pieces and the spinning ninja himself ran over the clone that imprison him, making it fall apart as well.

"_Such hit power…_" Chiyo's eyes widen at the sight. "_Those kids are stronger then they look…_" and with that she reached for a scroll in her bag.

Sakura smashed another one of Sasori's puppets with her fist, yet two more were coming right at her. As they came closer in order to cut her with the katanas they held in hands, Hinata appeared out of nowhere and as she began to spin, the blades hit the chakra sphere that surrounded her.

The moment the white-eyed girl called out: "Hakke Shou Kaiten!" the blades, as well as the puppets, got blown away and crashed against the rocks. Hinata finally came to a stop and as two, new dolls charged right at her, she hit both in the gut, using her gentle fist. It didn't seemed to have any effect on the attackers however.

"_Right, they're puppet…_" the Hyuuga heiress reminded herself as she jumped back, thus avoiding a hit from the katanas. "_They don't have any chakra circulating system nor internal organs, so Jyuken won't do much damage to them… at this point my taijutsu is rather useless…_" and with that she instantly picked out several throwing knives and tossed them right at the dolls. All hit their targets, yet that too didn't seem to make any effect either.

Meanwhile Naruto attacked Sasori from behind, making him jump away in order to avoid being hit directly. A second later three of the missing-nin's puppets were already attacking the blonde from every direction.

The loud mouth only smirked and after performing a quick set of hands seals he called out: "Doton: Ishi Enjin no Jutsu!" and in an instant stone spikes shoot from under the ground, creating a ring around him and piercing all the puppets that charged at him in the process.

"_That's a high level jutsu from the Iwa…_" noticed Sasori as he send more of his dolls to attack the boy. "_How come a brat from Konoha learned it? Itachi and Kisame never mentioned that… oh well, a minor inconvenience…_" but just then he felt someone grabbing his feet.

As he glanced down, he noticed two, Naruto clones coming out from the sand and grabbing his legs tight and a second later two, other clones grabbed his hands, making him unable to move. "_That brat…_" he thought as he looked at the whisker-marks. "_This is quite unexpected… never thought I'll be forced to use me…_" and with that thought spinning blades ripped his cloak and cutting all the bushins made them disappear in the cloud of white smoke.

"_What the…?_" was all Naruto could say at the sight as he smashed another puppet. "_What's with that guy's body?_" just then he noticed Chiyo landing right next to him, holding two scrolls, one in each hand.

"If you're wondering how he manage to perform that, I think I might be able to answer…" she announced. "As you figured out already, he's a puppeteer and as such he could also make himself into one…" and with that her face got a bit grim. "_Yet I have never expected he'd go that far…_"

"_He… turned himself into a puppet?_" the blonde eyes widen as he took another glare at his opponent and for the first time he saw how he real looked (or at least used to look): he had messy, red hair and hazel eyes. His face showed no emotions at all and all parts of his body seemed to be connected with one another by some sort of clips. In the place of his stomach there was a strange device that shoot a rope ended with a large blade. Naruto also noticed a plate with a strange symbol on the left chest. Also there was a hole in his right chest from which came tens of chakra strings.

"That also someone explains how you're able to control so many puppets at once…" said Chiyo, pointing at the hole. "To go this far…" and with that she unrolled the scrolls and performed few, quick hand seals. Instantly white smoke shoot out of the scrolls and before the loud mouth knew it two puppets in black robes stood between them and Sasori.

"Look at this, you even brought these…" for a moment Naruto thought the missing-nin was about to smirk, yet his expression stayed emotionless. "Mom and Dad… my first creations… Granny, you entertain me to no end…" and with that he picked out his own scroll and performing similar seals to the old kunoichi, he summoned his own puppet.

Naruto's eyes widen as he looked to the sky in order to see a doll about five meters tall, its hands way bigger then they should be. The puppet had a huge hammer attached to its back and no eyes or mouth.

"I call him Kyokanmaru…" announced Sasori, who now stood on top of the giant. "He had never failed me before and I do not think he'll now… so, shall we begin?"

As clay birds came closer, Shikamaru performed a quick chain of hand seals and with the last symbol he called out: "Kagekui!" Instantly his shadow extended itself and once it reached the incoming clay creatures, it transformed into spikes and piercing all the birds, it made them explode.

Ino wasted no time and charged at the missing-nin a second later. Before Deidara noticed she was right in front of her and jumping into the air, she aimed a kunai she held in her head at the Akatsuki member's head.

Deidara ducked under the attack and with a smirk grabbed the blonde kunoichi by the hand that held the kunai. Instantly the missing-nin placed some clay in the mouth hand and right before the leaf-nin's eyes a spike started to form, aimed right at her.

Deidara never got to use it though, as she was forced to jump back to avoid a gigantic fist that slammed the ground between her and Ino. As she glanced up, she noticed a certain, chubby ninja standing in front of her with an oversized arm.

"Oh, you got rid of my clones already?" the missing-nin seemed a bit surprised, yet a smirk was still present on her face. "_Guess those brats will be more of a challenge then I first thought, yeah…_"

"Chouji, done already?" Ino seemed impressed.

"Yeah…" replied the chubby shinobi, making his arm get back to its normal size. "Chiyo-baasama went to help Naruto and the others with Sasori, so we'll have to handle this freak on our own…"

"Well then, Smarty Pants…" with that Ino turned to Shikamaru. "Any ideas?"

"It'll be troublesome, but I think we can finish this in about five minutes…" responded the lazy chuunin. "I know just the thing…"

"Lets do it then!" the Leaf kunoichi threw her fist to the sky.

----------

Kankuro grabbed the scrolls with his puppets and headed towards the door. However, before he was able to open them, Gaara appeared before him with Baki standing right behind him.

"Going somewhere?" asked the Kazekage, emotionless as usual.

The puppeteer hesitated, but his sensei decided to answer for him: "You wanted to go to save Temari, didn't you?" the boy with make-up only nodded. "The Elders are against that. You already got beaten by the Akatsuki once and when Temari supported you… why do you believe you have any chances now that you're wounded and alone?"

"And just that is enough to abandon my teammate?" came a response. "Gaara, I know you have duties, but she's your sister… and more then that, she's also a Sand shinobi… as a Kazekage, shouldn't it be your responsibility to bring her back?"

"I wish I could…" replied the redhead, what seemed cold, but the puppeteer knew him too long to be fooled by that tone. "I real do, but since I'm their target…"

"This is bullshit!" yelled Kankuro. "You're doing this, because the Elders told you to! What happened to that Gaara that once said to me that he wish to become the Kazekage to protect his village? To protect his people? Are we really gonna let Konoha fight our own battles?"

Gaara just looked at him. The last time he saw his brother that determinate was during the Chuunin Exam when they were running away. He slowly turned around and heading towards the door, he said to his former sensei: "Baki, I'd like to make an announcement…"

----------

"_He destroyed them both which such ease…_" Chiyo stood with her mouth open and her eyes widen above the two puppets that now were smashed into bit. "_He really became a monster…_"

"Dammit!" curse Naruto, as he performed his standard technique: "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" and instantly tens of him appeared before the huge doll.

"Even if there will be more fleas…" began Sasori, still emotionless. "They'll still be just fleas…"

"Listen up, redhead!" yelled the real Naruto, who stood behind his clones, pointing a finger at the missing-nin. "You attacked my friends, even wounded one of them, you kidnapped another and now you're looking down on us… I'll teach you not to mess with me nor any of my friends!" and with that all the clones charged at the giant.

"How sad…" sighed Sasori as Kyokanmaru raised his hammer at the clones.

The blonde's that ran in the further lines jumped into the air and using the backs of the clones out front spring into the air even higher just a second before the giant's hammer wiped the clones that stayed on the ground with a single swing.

Instantly the puppet raised its hammer a little and once more attacked the clones. Half of Narutos grabbed the other half and threw the higher into the air just before they disappeared in the clouds of white smoke as they got hit with the powerful weapon.

The giant once more swung his hammer and destroyed the rest of the clones, making them disappear in the cloud of white smoke. As the smoke cleared however, Sasori's eyes widen (_A/N: if you can call that, since he's a puppet and all…_) at the sight of two more Narutos that stayed behind in the air.

The clone grabbed the original by the hand and tossed him right at the giant with all the strength it had. The real blonde concentrated the chakra in his palm, creating a ball of spiral, blue chakra in it.

"_That brat… I won't manage to make Kyokanmaru do another swing in time…_" and the second this thought hit the missing-nin's mind, Naruto slammed the hand that held the chakra orb into the puppet. A second later the giant felt apart into thousands of piece.

"_He actually manage to destroy Kyokanmaru…_" Sasori said to himself as he landed safely on his feet. "_It seems that this Jinchuuriki may be hard to obtain… I'll have to go all out now…_"

A second later Sakura and Hinata joined the blonde and the surprised Sand kunoichi, who stood right before the missing-nin. Sasori just gave both of the new arrivals a bored look and asked: "So, you destroyed all my puppets already?"

"Of course…" replied Sakura with a smirk. "Did you really thought that you'll be able to defeat us with just them?"

"Naruto-kun, are you alright?" asked the white-eyed girl with concern in her voice.

"Yeah…" responded the blonde. "I was just worried about you two a bit, but I see that there was no need for doing that… lets just kick this guy's ass and head back already…"

"Such confidence…" Sasori shook his head. "You don't suppose I'm out of tricks, do you?" and with that he unrolled another scroll and after performing the right hand seals he summoned another puppet.

The moment it appear, Chiyo's eyes widen even more. Her hands started shaking a bit, yet she managed to stay calm: "This is…"

"So you noticed?" asked the missing-nin as a puppet in black robe and long, black hair stood behind him. "Hope you're impressed, because this one was a bit hard to obtain…"

"What is it, Chiyo-baasama?" asked Hinata, giving the sand-nin a questioning glare.

"The one who was thought to be the most powerful man that ever lived in the Suna…" replied the old kunoichi quietly. "The Third Kazekage…"

* * *

And so chapter seven ends. Hope you enjoyed it and that you'll leave a review once you're done. 

Just for the record (coz some of you might be asking that in reviews) I've decided to leave most of Sasori's background for you to discover for yourselves (by reading the manga or watching the anime) so that's why I didn't really show what were his thoughts when Chiyo used 'Mom' and 'Dad'. I think that's all I have to say in this matter.

As usually, time for the jutsu encyclopedia:

_Chidori_ (Thousand Birds) - Kakashi's only sole original technique, originally formed for the use of assassination. The user, gathers such a large concentration of chakra in the hand, that it becomes visible. Pushing the limits of the body, the user charges forward, the chakra amount growing, as does the incredible speed. The chakra becomes so powerful, that it becomes similar to a blade, and is able to cut through near anything. The attack creates a constant 'chi' noise, sounding like a thousand birds advancing towards you. The jutsu gained its name from this sound. It gained a nickname 'Lightning Edge' or, Raikiri – coz it is said that the Sharingan user cut the bolt in half with it.

_Kagemane no Jutsu_ (Shadow Bind Skill) – a technique that allows the user to control their own shadow, changing it to any shape they wish, and extending/shortening it inside a certain radius. When the shadow contacts the opponents shadow, it combines the two, making the opponent do anything the user does. The shadow can also latch onto multiple targets Yet, the jutsu has a time limit.

_Ninpou: Nendo Hitoya no Jutsu_ (Ninja Art: Clay Prison Skill) – jutsu used by Deidara. Basically the user must first make the clay capable of changing shape (Deidara does it by putting it into her hand mouth) and then, with the use of the right hand seals, release it, creating a sort of cocoon that traps the opponent inside.

_Baika no Jutsu_ (Multi-size Skill) – a skill known to the Akimichi clan. It allows the user to change the size of his entire body (or just a part of it) theoretically as much as he desires. However the bigger the change, the more chakra has to be used… not to mention the calories.

_Nikudan Sensha_ (Meat Tank) – a technique used after Baika no Jutsu. Sends the enlarged body into a powerful roll, after the user hides his hands, legs and head in it. The power of such 'tank' is incredible, however it uses up a lot of calories.

_Hakke Shou Kaiten_ (Heavenly Spin) – thought to be a 'perfect defense'. At the exact moment a blow is landed on the body, large amounts of chakra are expelled from the Chakra Holes around the body. With that force, the user's body spins like a top. The combined efforts of the chakra and the spin, first deflect the attack - then throw the opponent backwards.

_Doton: Ishi Enjin no Jutsu_ (Earth Element: Stone Ring Skill) – a technique that Naruto learned during his three-year training. The user first sends his chakra into the ground and then, with the use of right hand seals, makes it pull up spiked stones around him. This jutsu is perfect for stopping taijutsu users charging on you.

_Kagekui_ – one of Shikamaru's newest jutsus. I'm not that familiar with how it works, so in order not to spread false information or something I'm only mentioning it here. I'll give you more details the moment I'll find out more of it myself.

And with that this chapter truly ends. I hope you enjoyed it and that you'll keep in mind to leave me a review. Until next time (hopefully).


	8. Suffering of an Artist

Yes, I finally manage to write this one! Sorry for the long wait… I know it took me like forever to update, but even though I had it mostly planned, I still get a major author's block on it… I just couldn't write it the way I'd be pleased with it. But now I have and I'm quite satisfied with the result… still it could be a bit better, but overall I think it turned out okay.

Thank you for all the encouraging reviews for the last chapter… it really keeps me going and I hope you'll be at least just as pleased with this one as you were with the last (especially since you had to wait so long).

There was hope for this one being beta-lized, however that backfired a bit (it's no-one's fault, it just happened) so I'm afraid you'll have to face my sucky gramma once more… sorry.

For most of the questions they were about "What's Gaara plan on doing?"… Well, you'll find out in this chapter… I guess the only thing left for me to do is stop babbling and get on with it, so here goes:

**Chapter #8: Suffering of an Artist**

"The Sandaime Kazekage?" Sakura repeated surprised. "What do you mean?"

"So what if that looks like the Third?" asked Naruto with confidence. "That's still just a puppet with strings and all… it's not different from those that we already destroyed…"

"I guess you never heard of hitokugutsu then…" assumed Sasori, looking at the blonde.

"Hito-what-su?" the loud mouth was completely dumb fooled.

"Hitokugutsu…" repeated Chiyo. "One of the most gruesome puppet arts in the Hidden Sand… performed correctly it transforms a human body into a puppet, thus making the chakra that was inside of the body to stay there… moreover, the puppet can also use any jutsu known to it while it was still alive… of course that sort of thing is only possible if the puppet is made out of the right body and since that is so… Sasori was the one that killed the Sandaime Kazekage…"

"_He… was able to defeat the Kazekage?_" Hinata got scared. "_And the one that was thought to be the strongest among the Hidden Sand leaders… this man… he's a monster!_"

"Indeed I have…" nodded the missing-nin. "But I just couldn't help myself really… it'd be a shame to waste Sandaime-sama's talent… after all, he did invented the jutsu that is most feared in the village…" and with that he made a quick motion. The puppet opened it's mouth instantly and strange, black cloud started to escape it's body.

"So, even Satetsu…" Chiyo eyes narrowed.

"Yes, the jutsu for which Sandaime was thought to be the strongest to ever live in Suna…" replied Sasori. "Of course my puppet's strength isn't as great as the Third's, but still it should be enough to take all of you out… but to think that a bunch of brats and an old hag who's one foot in the grave would push me that far as to use this… how embarrassing… I guess the only way for me to wipe that shame is to… kill you…" and before anyone knew it spikes shoot out of the black cloud right at the surprised leaf-nins and the Sand kunoichi.

Both Chiyo and Sakura manages to jump back far enough to avoid the spikes, Naruto and Hinata on the other hand weren't so lucky. The blonde was jumping in every direction, the moment his feet touched the ground, they left it again.

Hinata decided to avoid the attack differently. She began to release chakra from her body and once the spikes were close enough, she began spinning around, in hope to blow them away. To her surprise though, the spikes went right through her 'shield' and cut her side. The Hyuuga heiress jumped back just in time to avoid certain death.

"_They're filled with chakra…_" she figured. "_Kaiten won't do…_" and with that pain shoot through her body. She glanced at her side, which was cut and covered the wound with her hand. In the meantime Naruto jumped out of the spike forest and landed right next to her.

"Though luck…" announced Sasori coldly. "Those spikes were filled with my venom, so eventually this girl will die in an hour or so…"

"Bastard" was all Naruto said as he threw the missing-nin a death glare. "Hinata-chan, how are you feeling?"

"I've been better, to be honest…" replied the white-eyed girl, smiling slightly.

"Sakura-chan, you're the medic-nin, take care of her…" said the blonde in an ordering tone. "I'll just kick that bastard's ass and help you out in a moment…" and with that he walked forward to Chiyo. "Hey, you old bat, what'd you say if we finish this? With Hinata-chan wounded I don't feel like playing around anymore…"

"If you real want to…" sighed the Sand kunoichi as she unwrapped ten scrolls.

Deidara jumped back in order to avoid the shadow spikes that were coming right at her. She instantly placed some more clay in her hand-mouth and after performing a quick set of hand seals, she called out: "Ninpou: Gosunkugi Arashi!"

In a fracture of a second hundreds of small, clay spikes shoot came flying at the young chuunins. "_Too many…_" noticed Shikamaru as the bullets kept closing in.

Just then Chouji stood between the incoming spikes and his friends and slammed his hands to the ground, thus lifting up a huge, stone wall. "A little trick I learned from an old enemy… how do you like it?"

"_That fat-ass used the rocks to block my bullets…_" cursed Deidara as she performed some more seals. "_Seems I'll have to use my thumb card then, yeah…_" but as she decided that, Shikamaru ran at her from behind the wall lifted up by Chouji and prepared kunais to throw them at the clay user. "_He's attacking? Wasn't that round guy the striker of their team?_"

At that moment the lazy chuunin threw all the knives right at the missing-nin and performed a quick set of hand seals. As Deidara dodged all of the incoming weapons, she noticed that Shikamaru's shadow, that was falling on the stone wall, started to change shape and once more she had to avoid shadow spikes that shoot right at her.

"Now Chouji!" yelled the shadow user as his teammate smashed from under the ground in the form of the Meat Tank, coming right at the surprised missing-nin, who was unable to avoid both the spikes and the incoming cannonball.

"_This is bad, yeah…_" figured Deidara as she observed Chouji coming closer and closer. "_But if he'll smash me, he'll get pierced by those spikes as well… that can't be their true plan, yeah… guess I'll just have to reach for more lower tricks…_" and with that she slammed her hands to the ground.

A second later she was already hidden underground and Chouji was coming right at the shadow spikes controlled by Shikamaru. The chubby ninja instantly stopped spinning and watched as his friend commanded the spikes to stop just inches from his face.

"She's good…" announced Ino, who just joined her teammate as she carried still unconscious Temari. "So, when do we put your plan into motion?"

"The moment she'll use what we're pushing her to…" replied Shikamaru simply.

"Your famous skill, eh Granny?" asked Sasori, his face still emotionless. "One puppet for every finger… and they also say that a puppeteers strength is measured by how many dolls he or she can control at one time… it's said you once took a fortress with those… first puppets ever made in the Suna…"

Chiyo was now operating ten dolls in white robes, all her fingers surrounded by chakra strings: "Sasori, I will defeat you… and then bring you back to your old self…"

"You're still using that idiotic reason to chase me?" for a moment it seemed that the missing-nin is going to laugh, however nothing happened. "Those dolls of yours are good, but you cannot expect them to compare to the Sandaime… let me show you that puppeteer's strength is not just about the number of puppets, but also their quality… Satetsu…" and with that the black sand started to come out of his puppet's mouth once more.

The Sand kunoichi instantly moved her dolls so that they'd charge at the missing-nin, to her surprise however Sasori made a wide wall out of the black cloud and placed it between himself and the charging puppets. Before anyone noticed, spikes shoot out of the wall, destroying two of the dolls used by Chiyo, which didn't manage to escape in time.

"_Dammit, he's playing with us!_" cursed Naruto as he ran right through the spikes, avoid any direct hit and gathering chakra in his right palm. The moment he reached the black sand wall, he held out his hand, that carried a large, blue spinning chakra and the second it connected with the obstacle, he called out: "Rasengan!".

The wall broke into thousands of pieces and instantly Chiyo puppets jumped over the blonde in the attempt to attack the missing-nin, but to both Naruto's and the kunoichi's surprise, Sasori was not there.

The whisker-marks looked into the sky and only then noticed the Akatsuki member, carrying his puppet on his shoulder, with black wings on his back. "_He can even make that sand carry him? Does this skill has limits?_" his eyes widen a bit as the black cloud formed itself into hundreds of shurikens and shoot right at the leaf-nin.

"_Shit!_" cursed the blonde as he performed a quick set of hand seals: "Fuuton: Kaze Teikiatsu!" and instantly the air around his started to speed up, creating a large cyclone with Naruto standing in the eye of it.

All of the black shurikens got carried by the wind and were blown away. "_So the brat did master techniques from around the world…_" Sasori almost smirked at the sight. "_He may be a hard one to get…I really should stop playing around then…_" and with that his doll let out more black sand.

In an instant more black spikes came raining from the sky right at Naruto and Chiyo. The leaf-nin started to dodge as much spikes as he could, but there were simply too many.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata whispered weakly as Sakura was finishing treating her. Dust lifted up from hundreds of spikes hitting the sand, thus covering the whole area. When it disappeared, both Leaf kunoichis saw Naruto and Chiyo defended by the sand-nin's dolls, which taken most of the spikes on them.

"I see I manage to block it in time…" noticed Chiyo, breathing a bit heavier then usual. Then she tried to move her puppets and only then did she realized that they won't listen. After taking a closer look at them, she understood why: "The Iron Sand… it's getting into their joints…":

"Surprise, you old hag…" announced Sasori as he and his doll finally landed on the ground. "Your puppets have just became useless… and with that, this fight is as good as done…" and so the Sandaime released even more black sand that started to circle above him and the missing-nin.

"_Dammit…_" Naruto cursed in his mind as he clenched his teeth. "_With all that sand I can't reach him with Rasengan… and with the ability to create those spikes Kage Bushin isn't more then a waste of chakra… what to do?_"

"I… I can disable his puppet…" announced Hinata as she joined the fighting two along with Sakura. "All I need is a way to get close to him…"

"What are you talking about?" asked Sakura. "Even if you really had a way to do it, there's no hope for us to make you an opening… Chiyo-baasama's puppets are immobile and neither me nor Naruto are long range fighters…"

"I can still operate two of my dolls…" announced the Sand kunoichi. "That's enough to allow you guys to get close, however I doubt that with just two I'll be able to hold Sandaime long enough for you to attack…"

"Just clear the way Wrinkles…" asked Naruto. "And leave the rest to us…"

----------

The Sand shinobies gathered outside the Kazekage Tower as Gaara slowly walked onto the balcony along with Kankuro and one of the elders. Baki stood below, observing his students "_Gaara, don't do anything stupid…_"

The redhead looked around and seeing that most of the jounins arrived already, decided to speak: "Shinobies of the Sand! I asked you to come here today, because there's something that I need to say… something that all of you should hear…" he pause to allow the whispers got through the crowd. As the noises stopped, he continued: "Before I go any further, I must confess: I am weak…"

"What are you talking about, Kazekage-sama?" yelled on of the female jounins. "You're the strongest in the Sand! No-one can match you!"

"Strength isn't just physical…" replied Gaara, lowering his head a bit. "The reason why I wanted to become the Kazekage was simple: to protect this village and ever, single life in it… for that I was prepared to give my life… and yet I failed… I didn't even manage to protect my own sister…"

"It wasn't your fault, Kazekage-sama!" yelled another kunoichi. "There's nothing you could have done…"

"There was…" interrupted the redhead. "I was just too afraid to make the decision… but now I understand that above everything I'm still just a human… that is why I made a choice… the moment this meeting is over, I'm going into the desert to the place Temari was taken…"

Kankuro only smiled under his nose as the elder that stood with them on the balcony yelled: "What did you just say, Kazekage-sama? We already told you that keeping you safe is the top priority right now! The Akatsuki is after you!"

"If they are after me, they're most likely after Uzumaki Naruto as well…" replied Gaara calmly. "Yet that didn't stop him to go after them in order to save Temari…"

"Gaara-sama, please reconsider!" the elder didn't give up. "As a Kazekage you cannot allow your personal feelings to cover your vision on what's best for the village… You cannot risk the future of the Hidden Sand just to safe your sibling!"

"I'm not going JUST to safe my sister!" for the first time Kankuro, as well as everyone gathered, heard Gaara yelling. "I'm going to do what I excepted to do when I became the Kazekage: I'm going to save a shinobi of the Sand! It is my duty as protector of this village… you may do to me whatever you desire when I get back, however my decision will not change… I'll head to the main gate… who goes with me?"

----------

The sun was high and the shadows of the three chuunins gotten longer as they observed Deidara standing on a giant, clay bird that stood on top of a nearby rock. "You're beginning to be really annoying, yeah…" announced the missing-nin. "I'll be merciful and allow you to surrender before I'll finish you off, yeah…"

"Sorry, but we don't really have a choice but to turn your offer down…" replied Chouji with a smirk. "But to return your kindness, we give you a chance to surrender too…"

"Guess there's no helping it then, yeah…" sighed Deidara and with that few, smaller clay birds appeared around her. A second later all of them flew right at the trio at an incredible speed.

Shikamaru and Ino jumped back at the last second, thanks to which some of the birds crushed against the ground, exploding. Those that survived however kept chasing the two chuunins. Chouji one the other hand acted differently: he jumped into the air and the moment he located himself above the missing-nin, he surrounded himself with kunais and once more using Baika no Jutsu, he performed the Meat Tank.

"Oh my…" smirked Deidara as she ordered her bird to go into the air, thus avoiding being hit.

As Chouji crushed hard into the ground where she was standing just a moment ago, she placed more clay into her hand-mouth and after performing a short set of hand seals, she called out: "Ninpou: Nendo Musubu no Jutsu".

Instantly clay ropes shoot out of her hand straight at Chouji and circling around his legs and hands, trapped the chubby chuunin. "This is different from the Clay Prison…" announced Deidara calmly as her smirk widen. "With your hands immobile you cannot perform any seals, thus you won't be able to use that stupid tank skill or whatever it was that freed you last time…"

"Yeah well… you're forgetting one thing…" reminded Chouji. "To keep those ropes, you need to stay connected with them… and that's all we need to bring you down" and the moment he said so Ino jumped onto the ropes and ran straight at the clay user.

Deidara's eyes widen as she performed another set of hand seals single-handedly, called out: "Ninpou: Nendo Kasui no Jutsu!" and in a fracture of a second a huge, clay spike shoot out of her hand, hitting the Leaf kunoichi in the stomach.

"Ino!" Chouji yelled in anger as he now tried to free himself from his opponent jutsu.

"One down, yeah…" the clay user smiled, but then the shadow Ino was making changed it shape and shadow spikes shoot right at her. Having no, other way out, the missing-nin jumped off the bird and landed between Chouji, who was now free from the bind, Shikamaru who still was holding a seal after performing his Kagekui and Temari, who was still unconscious laying behind her.

"You sick hag…" the chubby chuunin gave Deidara a death glare as he looked at Ino laying motionless on the ground just few meters away.

"This is war, in case you haven't noticed…" replied the missing-nin with a smirk. "Victims are unavoidable, yeah… sorry that this girl was the first one to fall, but fear not, both of you will join her soon enough…"

"Is that so?" she heard a voice coming from behind and as she turned around, she noticed Temari hitting her with her fan and sending her flying against a nearby rock.

Deidara's eyes widen at the sight as both leaf-nins smirked and Ino's body that was still laying motionless on the ground turned into a shadow. Only then did she noticed that both Ino's and Shikamaru's shadows were bond together. "_So that was it… that girl charging at me, creating an opening… that fat-ass getting trapped so easily… they all did that so I get careless!_"

"Just as we planned…" announced Shikamaru with a smirk as he performed another set of hand seals and in an instant his shadow merged with Deidara's, trapping her.

Blades appeared on the Sandaime's hands as the doll blocked the attacks of both Chiyo's puppets aiming their swords to destroy it. A moment later the Sand kunoichi herself appeared behind Sasori and held out her left hand.

To all the Leaf shinobies surprise, a small bullet shoot out of her hand and headed straight at the missing-nin, who jumped back in order to avoid it. "You're getting old, Granny…" he announced coldly and the black sand pierced both puppets that were fighting his doll and came right at the defenseless kunoichi. "Because you attacked me, you stopped paying attention to your dolls… how careless of you…" and the moment he said so a black spike cut through Chiyo's side, making her yell in pain.

"Chiyo-baasama!" Sakura instantly found herself next to the old puppeteer, treating her with her antidote and medical skills.

"_He got distracted!_" noticed Naruto as he charged right at the Sandaime's doll. "_This is our chance!_" and with that thought he performed his standard technique: "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" but just then Sasori realized what was going on and pulled his puppet out of Naruto's reach, making it release more of the black sand.

"Stupid brat, do you actually believe I'd lose track of what's going on?" asked the former sand-nin with a little irritation in his voice. "Get this: never will a damn pipsqueak like you have a chance to defeat me… and now you're going to pay for your stupidity… Satetsu!"

Instantly spike shoot from the black cloud yet again and headed right at Naruto and his clones. The one that was leading the attack merely manage to dodge all the spikes that came at him, his clones weren't so lucky on the other hand.

Naruto was now trapped between the spike, having very limited area to move. "Will all those spike around you, you can't hope to dodge my next attack…" announced Sasori coldly as he looked at the blonde gennin.

"So what?" replied the whisker-marks with a smirk. "Because of the same spikes, you can fire anything at me… it won't penetrate the forest you created around me…"

"You are right…" nodded the missing-nin, creating a face that could be seen as surprise. But soon it turned back into his typical, emotionless one. "Unless of course, my Iron Sand can go underground…" and at that moment a single, black spike shoot from under the ground and went right through Naruto's body, making him cough out blood.

Sasori's eyes widen a second later though, when Naruto disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.

"Well, what do you know…" he heard a voice coming from behind and as he turned around, he saw Naruto standing with his arms cross just few meters away. "The one who got careless was you after all…"

Just then the missing-nin turned around again and noticed Hinata standing in her battle stance between him and his puppet: "This is it…" she announced with her Byakugan activated. A moment later Sasori lost connection with his doll, which got thrown by the white-eyed girl right at the pink-haired kunoichi "Sakura, now!"

"_Dammit, I won't manage to reattach my chakra strings!_" the former sand-nin cursed in his mind as he observed Sakura standing up and smashing his puppet into hundreds of pieces with a single punch. "_That brat… how did she cut through the strings?_"

"Look at this, Sasori…" said Naruto as he joined Hinata. "You're puppet is no more… what will you do now?" and with that his smile widen.

Unaware to anyone, someone was observing the whole fight from a nearby mountain. As the blonde with dreadlocks looked down on the battlefield, a smirk appeared on his face: "To think those brats were actually able to push Sasori that far… oh well, this fight is about to over anyway… guess it's time for me to enter the stage…"

* * *

And that's all of it this time. Hope you enjoyed it and that you'll bless me with a review once you're done.

As usual, he's another part of jutsu encyclopedia:

_Satetsu_ (Iron Sand) a technique invented by the Third Kazekage, based on a jutsu used by the previous Shukaku host. The user first releases his chakra from his mouth in the form of iron sand and then, by using his chakra as magnetic wave, shape it as he desires. This technique allows the user to form a weapon in any situation and is also the one that helped the Sandaime Kazekage become the strongest in the Suna.

_Ninpou: Gosunkugi Arashi_ (Ninja Art: Spike Storm) – a technique used by Deidara. The user must first prepare the special clay and then, with the use of right hand seals, form it into hundreds of small spikes, which can be send towards the enemy. Simple as that.

_Fuuton: Kaze Teikiatsu_ (Wind Element: Wind Cyclone) – a jutsu Naruto learned during his travel with Jiraiya. In order to perform it, the user must first release his chakra into the air and then, with the use of the right hand seals, make it circle around him. That way the chakra he or she released into the air creates a powerful cyclone with the user safe in the middle of it.

_Ninpou: Nendo Musubu no Jutsu_ (Ninja Art: Clay Bind Skill) – a technique used by Deidara. This time, with the use of her clay and the correct set of hand seals, she creates strong, clay ropes, that trap the opponent. The weakness of this skill is the fact that the user must stay connected with the ropes, otherwise the opponent he or she trapped will be set free.

_Ninpou: Nendo Kasui no Jutsu_ (Ninja Art: Clay Spike Skill) – another jutsu used by Deidara. The usage is pretty much the same like in the case of Spike Storm, the only difference is that in stead of many spikes, one is created.

And that's that for now…

Best wishes and till next time… hopefully.


	9. A Boy Named Kengo

First of all, sorry it took me so long to update this one. With collage on my head (along with some, other stuff) updating will probably be a bit hard for the next, two months (I'll still try to submit at least one chapter per month). Also, I hope you'll find this chapter worth waiting for.

Thanks for all the encouraging reviews. It really means a lot to me and helps me to work harder on the next chapters! Hope you'll like this one at least as much as the previous.. To answer your questions:

**_What's up with Kengo:_** well, you'll learn few things about him in this chapter, still I've decided to keep some things for later (what's the fun in knowing everything about someone the moment you meet him?). To not spoil too much I'll just say some doubts about him from previous chapters will be cleared in this one too.

**_Why didn't Naruto used Kyuubi:_** well, to start of I must admit that I'm not a big 'Kyuubi using' fan, but then again it's not like he really needed it in that fight (after all they pretty much manage to defeat Sasori)… and Naruto did get a lot stronger, which you'll see in the chapters that are to come after the mission in Suna.

I think that covers it... sorry if I missed anything that won't be answered in this chapter.

Also I have an announcement to make! I finally got a beta so there's hope this chapter won't be so packed with grammar mistakes as most were (I'm also planning to edit few previous chapters in a while). So, if the grammar quality is good this time, the credit goes to my friend, SmkyRngr1986, who was brave enough to try and editing this one.

**ANNOUNCEMENT:** just wanted to inform you about something… well, for some time now I've being writing my original story that is influenced by manga… and I finally decided to place it on the web… you can find the link on my profile page… as for the details, it's a fantasy story with a lot of action and quite a lot of humor and drama… plus romance later on. If you feel like it, do try it out and leave a review if you can. Thanks in advance.

I believe that's that as an intro, so without further to do, here's the ninth chapter of "Love, Demons and Bloodlines":

**Chapter #9: A Boy Named Kengo**

"Well, you guys turned out to be better then I expected, yeah…" announced Deidara, still smiling even though she was caught in Shikamaru's Shadow Bind. "How did you know that Sand girl will regain consciousness so soon? With that small toxin Sasori-dono gave her, she should stay asleep for few, more hours…"

"You still haven't figured that out?" asked Chouji with a smirk.

"Meaning what?" demanded the missing-nin.

"The one who hit you… wasn't Temari…" announced Shikamaru and the moment he said so, the Sand kunoichi collapsed to the ground unconscious. "That's Ino ability…"

"Shintenshin no Jutsu…" they heard a female voice and a second later Ino came out from behind the stone wall that Chouji created in order to stop Deidara's spikes before. "It allows me to enter another person's body and control it… if you'd make her paralyze, then I wouldn't be able to do anything, however if it's just some sleeping mixture, I can easily overcome it… I just used Shintenshin on Temari-san and waited for you to get careless, you hag…"

"In case you haven't noticed, both mine and Ino's shadows were combined for some time now… " continued Shikamaru. "I used a little trick that I've just learned, called Kagami no Kage… it allows me to form my shadow into a clone similar to those made with the use of typical bushin, however, at any time, I can switch my real body with the clone, as long as our shadows are combined…"

"So you just used Henge to make the clone look like that blonde girl, yeah…" Deidara figured out the rest. "And then you were prepared to switch places in case it'd be able to land a punch on me… plus with a bushin attacking, it was safer for you guys… and further more, when a normal bushin receives a direct hit, it doesn't get dispelled so even when it got hit with my spike you kept it so I wouldn't figure out your real plan… clever, yeah…"

"Thanks…" replied the lazy chuunin. "All that's left, is to take care of your hands so you won't cause us more trouble… Ino, would you mind?"

----------

"Give it up, Sasori…" Chiyo said to her grandson. "You should see clearly now that you cannot defeat us… I can give you your life back… just come with us…"

"How noble…" they all heard a voice and before they knew it a boy with blonde hair, made into dreadlocks, appeared behind the missing-nin. "You're talking about that resurrection jutsu that I heard so much about? For what I know it requires the users life to work… oh well, doesn't matter, coz I'll be taking Sasori…"

"What are you doing here?" asked the red-haired Akatsuki member.

"Is that a way to treat your old partner?" replied the dreadlocks. "Besides, you should know very well what I want… but I suppose it'll take a while to get that information, so would you mind just following me and get this over with? You were never able to beat me, even less now that practically all your dolls got destroyed…"

"Hey, blondie!" Naruto cut in, pointing his finger at the new arrival. "Who are you? We were in the middle of a fight and now you show up all of a sudden, saying that you're taking our opponent? He's going with us to the Sand for punishment and interrogations!"

"Your friends already cough Deidara, she'll do for interrogations just as good…" responded the older blonde. "And the one that I need is Sasori… that clay witch won't do me anything… so you rookies can just go to that pineapple head and his weird comrades…"

"Kengo, you sure haven't changed much…" announced Sasori. "You really think that even if I were to tell you what you want, it'd give you anything? The moment I get cough, I'll lose any value to the Akatsuki and even if you will get that brat, it'll change nothing…"

"This is where you are wrong…" replied the dreadlocks with a smirk. "The brat… I know exactly where he is… but it's not about that… at least not now… what I want, is the Dragon Claw…"

"Are you insane?" for the first time Sasori seemed to lose his emotionless face and turned to his former partner. "Have you already forgotten what happened the last time? You won't be able to control it! No-one can!"

"What I'm planning to do with it is none of your concern… and you're going with me, whether you like it or not…" and with that the dreadlock's hand went right through the Akatsuki member's chest. "I need you alive, so I can't touch that idiotic seal of yours… however, there is a trick to that too…" and with that he quickly performed several hand seals with his free hand only: "A little Hijutsu I learned in the Hidden Stone… your body will be paralyzed until I won't release you… now, shall we go?" and just then he spun on his left foot, barely avoiding a kick aimed at his face and lunched a kick of his own.

The moment his foot reached the whisker-marks boy that charged at him, Naruto's body disappeared in the cloud of white smoke. "Kage Bushin, eh? For a brat to master this technique… quite impressive…"

"You're not going anywhere!" yelled the loud mouth as his eyes changed their color into red for a split second.

"_What's with those eyes?_" wondered Kengo. "_He's a Jinchuuriki? Well, he's from the Hidden Leaf and I never did learn who had the Kyuubi sealed inside, so I guess it's possible… oh well, doesn't matter, this'll make it only a bit more difficult…_" and just then he had to jump away in order to avoid a punch from Sakura, who attacked him from behind: "You won't allow me to leave just like that, will you?"

"Of course not…" replied the pink-haired kunoichi. "Judging from your headband you're a missing-nin from our village, so it's practically our duty to bring you back… surrender now and you won't get hurt…"

"I hate when things get complicated…" responded the dreadlocks. "I really didn't came here to fight any of you guys… and it's not like you could win… but I guess I don't have much choice in this matter… fine then, I'll teach you few things about the world…"

----------

"Why am I the one who has to carry her?" asked Shikamaru as he carried Temari in his arms and ran in front of his teammates. "This is so troublesome…"

"_Yeah, right…_" Ino, who was running last, sighed internally. "_He could stop pretending really…_" and just then she noticed something strange with Deidara, who was carried by Chouji: "Hey, what's going on with her?"

The lazy chuunin looked back and instantly noticed that the missing-nin started swelling: "Chouji, drop her now and get out of here!"

The chubby ninja immediately did as told and as they ran away, Deidara's body exploded, lifting up tons of dust. "Suicide…" Ino was surprised. "That's a little desperate… and we just lost our source of information…"

"We'll worry about that later…" said Chouji. "First let's get Shikamaru's girlfriend to safety and help out Naruto and others…"

----------

Naruto's eyes became more red and fangs grew longer as he looked around and saw all his companions laying on the ground exhausted: "Damn you!" he said through clenched teeth as his glare went to the dreadlocks.

"Damn me?" replied Kengo with a smirk. "I didn't want to fight, you guys are the ones who started this… don't go complaining now…" but with that he stopped as he felt chakra gathering in Naruto's right palm. "_This chakra flow… could this brat…_"

The whisker-marks charged right at the missing-nin and held his right hand, which carried a large ball of red chakra in front, with a yell: "Kitsune Rasengan!"

Kengo acted immediately. He stepped to his left, grabbed Naruto's hand, the one that 'carried' the Rasengan with his right hand and slammed his left palm into the young boy's chest.

Kyuubi vessel's concentration disappeared as he caught out blood and his Rasengan got dispelled. The missing-nin instant pushed him back and smashed against a nearby rock, still holding his left hand on the whisker-mark's chest.

"For a brat like you to master Rasengan…" began Kengo. "That's surprising. I thought that the toad guy and the Fourth were the only ones able to perform it… I see you're still a rookie in using it though… let me tell you something: the Rasengan's strength is dependent on how much chakra you spend on it and the level of control you hold over it. For example, someone with better chakra control then you, would be able to create a Rasengan of a similar strength you just did, even when you used Kyuubi's chakra… for example…" and with that he held his right hand back and to Naruto's surprise, a second later a huge ball of blue, spinning chakra appeared in it, creating a small tornado. In the next moment the jutsu got dispelled. "Like so…"

"How did you…" began the whisker-marks, his eyes blue again.

"It wasn't easy, since I only saw this technique once and no-one even told me how it was performed…" replied the dreadlocks. "But in the end I manage to master it… it's my special surprise for reunion with Itachi…"

"Who are you?" asked Naruto, still shocked.

"I already told you that my name's Kengo and that's pretty much all you need to know…" responded the missing-nin as he pushed the hand that was holding the younger blonde towards. The impact was so powerful, that it seemed like he broke few of the loud mouth's ribs and made him lose consciousness. "After all, you'll die here and now…" and with that he picked out his kunai, just then however he heard Hinata call out: "Naruto-kun!"

The dreadlock's eyes widen as he turned his head to look at the white-eyed girl: "What… did you call him?"

"N… Naruto-kun…" repeated the Hyuuga heiress a little scared and puzzled at the same time.

Kengo turned his eyes towards the whisker-marks again and slowly released the boy from his grip, thus making him fall motionless with his face to the sand. The missing-nin moved him to his back and looked at his face carefully. A few seconds later, a small smirk began to appear on his face: "What do you know… I never thought you'd be still alive…"

"You… know Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata a little quietly.

"You might say that…" replied Kengo. With that he slowly walked towards Sasori, who was still lying on the sand not moving: "This is an unexpected turn… I even feel like letting you guys live… at least for now…" and saying so he picked up the Akatsuki member and turned to Hinata once more: "I guess the old fart made Kakashi his sensei… however I've never heard of Konoha team that'd be formed of two girls and one boy…"

"I'm not… originally Naruto-kun's teammate…" announced the Hyuuga heiress, not sure why she even said that. "Normally Naruto-kun was teamed up with Sakura, who's laying over there, and Uchiha Sasuke…"

"You mean Itachi's younger brother?" Kengo's smile seemed to widen. "This just keeps getting better and better… well, this explains a bit… so you got transferred as a replacement since that Uchiha brat ran off to Orochimaru, right?"

"How did you… know that Sasuke-kun…" began the white-eyed girl, but she was instantly interrupted by the dreadlocks: "Tell you what, I'll give you guys a hand…" and with that he reached to his pocket, picket out a small scroll and threw it towards Hinata: "Tell that dumbass…" with that he pointed Naruto with his head. "… that if he wants to find his teammate, this scroll can prove useful… since I got Sasori, I don't really need it… I'll get Itachi either way…"

"Why… are you doing this?" asked the Hyuuga heiress, not sure what else she could say.

"For fun…" responded Kengo. "I wonder how this will develop… besides, if you guys will be able to take this whole Sasuke brat back, it might even be convenient for me…" and the moment he said so sand began circling around his legs. The missing-nin just barely managed to escape the trap and as he looked on top of a nearby rock, he spotted a certain redheaded boy with a gourd on his back. "Well, if it isn't the current Kazekage… for someone of your status wanting to fight me… I'm honored and in normal circumstances I'd love to continue this, but I really grew tired of this child's play, so if you don't mind, I'd like to take my leave now… besides, someone has to take care of these brats and the old hag… plus, Kakashi-san and his smoking companion could use medical treatment as well… otherwise, they'll surely die…"

"In a moment the number of your opponents will increase…" announced the redhead coldly. "You stand no chances…"

"Gaara-san, don't…" Hinata asked quietly. "He's right, Chiyo-baasama and Naruto-kun require help and Sakura-chan doesn't look so good either… and he's really powerful… if you'll end up fighting, those who followed you here might get killed…"

The Godaime looked at the white-eyed girl, and after a moment of hesitation, retreated his sand. Kengo only smiled, announced: "Wise decision…" and with that he was gone, along with Sasori.

"Who was he?" asked Gaara as he teleported himself near the Hyuuga heiress.

"I… I don't know exactly…" replied the girl. "But whoever he was… he was able to beat Naruto-kun when he was… in that state… he's surely strong…"

"I see…" nodded the redhead simply. "Well, we'll worry about him later… first we should take care of them…" and with that he pointed at the two leaf-nins along with Chiyo.

----------

Temari slowly opened her eyes and tried to sit up. She felt her body got numb and someone placing his hand on her shoulder in order to stop her from moving. She looked in the direction that person stood to see Shikamaru giving her a bored face.

"Sakura said you might have trouble moving for a while…" he announced with a little annoyed voice. "Just carrying you here was a bother, don't be more troublesome then you already are, will ya?" and normally that would earn him a hit on the head, but even if she could move, for some reason, the fan user didn't felt like 'punishing' the lazy chuunin this time around.

"What about my brothers?" she asked, placing her head back on the pillow.

"Kankuro still suffers a bit from the wound he got during your fight with that girl from the Akatsuki…" replied the pineapple head. "But Gaara is completely fine… that should be expected either way though…" he yawned in order to hide a tiny blush appearing on his face as he covered the Sand kunoichi with the quilt.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Temari finally decided to ask, with a small smirk on her face as she noticed Shikamaru's blush anyway.

"Tsunade-sama got the message from Gaara that you require Konoha's help…" responded the lazy shinobi. "It was troublesome, but I kinda volunteered my team to participate in the mission…"

"I see…" announced the blonde with her smile widening. "Thanks then…" and with that she winked to the boy, making him blush a bit once more.

"Whatever…" replied the leaf-nin as he sat back on the chair placed near her bed and a second later Kankuro walked inside just to see the lazy chuunin sitting a little pissed and Temari close to giggling.

"_What the hell happened here?_" the puppeteer asked himself, positive he wouldn't hear an answer from either his sister or the pineapple head.

----------

Naruto clenched his teeth as pain shoot from his chest. He left out a quiet 'ugh' as he sat up on his bed and looked around. "_Once more in a hospital…_" he sighed internally.

"Naruto-kun, how are you feeling?" he heard Hinata's soft voice and as he looked a little to his left, he noticed the Hyuuga heiress sitting on a chair right next to his bed. "Sakura-chan said that you shouldn't be moving too much yet…"

"I'm fine…" assured the blonde with a smile. "But how are you doing? You got injured by that dreadlocks bastard too…"

"Oh, I just got few bruises, that's all…" replied the white-eyed, blushing slightly.

"And what about Sakura-chan and that old hag? Plus, how are Shikamaru and the rest of them?"

"Well…" began Hinata. "Sakura is practically fine… it was her that treated us all in the first place… Chiyo-baasama will most likely have to stay in the hospital for few days, but her life in not threatened… surprisingly, Shikamaru-kun, Chouji-kun and Ino-chan are all fine…"

"And Kakashi-sensei and Asuma-san?"

At that question the Hyuuga heiress lowered her head before replying: "That's… a little different story… Kakashi-san is badly injured and he won't recover too fast… at his current state, any shinobi activities are out of the question… Asuma-san is better, but his injuries weren't minor either…" just then the smoking jounin walked into the room and gave the two kids a weak smile.

"I see you finally awoke, Naruto…" he noticed as he walked over to the bed. "That's good… we'll be returning to Konoha the moment you'll feel better. I have to give Tsunade-sama the full report and in this case the sooner I'll do it, the better…"

"A… Asuma-san…" began Hinata quietly. "It's… it's about that other boy, right?" the smoker only nodded. "Who… who is he? He said… that he knew N-Naruto-kun… and…"

"I'm afraid I'm not allowed to say anything in this case, without Godaime-sama's permission…" interrupted the jounin. "Sorry Hinata, but Kengo's case… is a bit complicated one… but I'd need you to tell me what he told you… anything can prove useful…"

"Right now?" asked the white-eyed girl.

"No, there's no rush here…" assured Asuma, smiling gently to her and then throwing a quick glare at Naruto. "But I'd like to know before we get back to the Hidden Leaf…" the girl nodded and the smoker walked back towards the door: "I guess I'll leave you youngsters to yourselves then… I still need to talk to Temari-san anyways… oh, by the way Naruto, if you want to see Kakashi, Sakura announced that you can, but don't tire him with a long talk, he needs a lot of rest…" and with that he left the room.

----------

Deidara walked through the desert completely warned out. She used the rocks that she passed by to prop herself in order not to fall onto the ground. As she took another step, she felt someone tailing her and without even turning around, she asked: "Are you just gonna follow me around or are you going to help me out, Zetsu?"

The man with jaws around his head walked towards her and with an emotionless face he replied: "I wasn't send here to help you out… you failed… how disappointing… not only you didn't get Shukaku nor Kyuubi, but also Sasori was taken as a prisoner…"

"And are you aware of the fact who took him?" the other missing-nin didn't answer, so the kunoichi assumed he didn't. "It was Kengo, yeah…"

"Kengo?" Zetsu's eyes seemed to widen slightly at the mentioning of that name. "But why would he of all people…?"

"I have no idea…" admitted Deidara. "I just heard those Konoha brats mentioning his name when they were going back to the Suna… but whatever reason for showing up he could have, this entry to the game requires us to change our plans a bit, yeah…"

"Kengo appearance is definitely not something we can be happy about…" nodded the other, missing-nin. "We must report this to the leader immediately… the Kyuubi can prove difficult to get now…"

* * *

And so it ends. Hope you liked it and that you'll leave me a review with your opinion once you're done (also, if you could, it'd be helpful to know your opinion on Kengo so far).

Since my time is a bit limited, I'll get to jutsu encyclopedia right away:

_Shintenshin no Jutsu_ (Mind-Body Switch Skill) – what can I say… it's a standard jutsu, used by Ino. Basically it allows the user to take control over their target's body, however it also leaves the body of the one who performed it helpless. You all probably know how it works, so no point in describing it really.

_Kagami no Kage_ (Shadow Mirror) – a technique used by Shikamaru. The usage isn't that different from Kagemane. The user first executes the jutsu with the use of right hand seals. After the chain of symbols in completed, the user can form his shadow into a normal bushin (Shikamaru combined it with henge to make his bushin look like Ino). The phantom isn't really much different from a typical bushin… the only difference is that at any, given time, the user can perform Kawarimi, switching himself with the bushin (without the need for hand seals).

And I believe that's it for this time. I hope I'll be able to update sooner next time, but with so much duties on my head right now, I can't promise anything.

Best wishes and until next time, hopefully.


	10. Moving On

Hey, it's me again! I manage to pass one of my hardest exams and decided I can use a day break. During that time I actually manage to write this, but since my beta is on vacation, I guess you guys should prepare yourselves for at least few grammar mistakes.

Thanks for everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. I'm glad you liked the story and hope you'll enjoy this chappie as well. Those of you who wants to see more NaruHina should be quite happy as there will be some in this one and much more just few chapters ahead.

From all the reviews (expect those concerning Kengo, but I'd prefer to keep him a secret for the time being) I saw only one question and so I'm answering it:

**_Will Sai and Yamato appear:_** well, at this point I'll only say they will… not just yet though, but why you'll see in this chapter.

With that behind, I guess the only thing left for me to do is to invite you to read the next chapter of "Love, Demons and Bloodlines"! Please, enjoy:

**Chapter #10: Moving On**

Naruto stood on top of the hospital roof and looked at the endless desert that disappeared behind the horizon while the sky turned red. He lowered his head slightly, letting out a sigh. He rubbed his chest as small pain shoot through it. _'He said he knew N-Naruto-kun…'_ Hinata's words echoed in his head. "_Who was that deadlock guy?_" he asked himself, clenching his fist. "_After all that…_"

"Naruto-kun, you should go back to bed…" he suddenly heard a soft voice and as he turned around, he saw the white-eyed girl heading towards him. "Sakura-chan will send you back to the hospital for longer if she'll catch you here…" she joked, smiling to him.

"Thanks, but I've already recovered" the blonde assured her. "I just felt like taking a walk…"

The Hyuuga heiress lowered her sight slightly and asked slowly, carefully choosing the words: "It's… about that boy… isn't it?" The blonde stood there for a moment and then nodded. "Even Kakashi-san and Asuma-san together couldn't defeat him, so it's only understandable that we, who are not even jounin, could not withstand his strength… you should worry about that, Naruto-kun…"

The Kyuubi vessel only turned around and smiled widely to the white-eyed girl. "You know me too well, Hinata-chan…" he announced, laughing.

"No I don't…" she replied quietly, so that the whisker-marks wouldn't hear it.

---The next day---

The eight, Leaf shinobi stood in front of the gorge that led to the entrance of the Hidden Sand Village (_A/N: well, Asuma had to give Kakashi a piggy-bank ride_). Walking them to the exit where Gaara, along with his siblings, Baki and Chiyo.

"I believe this is the time for us to take our leave…" announced the smoking jounin as he took a quick glare at Kakashi laying on his back. "I still need to report to Tsunade-sama… I wish you all the best, Kazekage-sama…" and with that he turned to the redhead boy, who merely nodded.

Sakura saw the old kunoichi had a worried look on her face and came closer to the sand-nin, placing her hand on her shoulder: "You'll fulfill your goal, Chiyo-baasama… I promise that if we'll find Sasori, will take him as prisoner…" and with that she gave the puppeteer a smile.

The older kunoichi looked at her a little surprised at first, but then smiled back: "You really are a lot like Tsunade I know… not just with beauty and skills… good luck in your quest, Sakura…"

The pink-haired girl nodded and then turned to Kankuro: "Your wound should soon heal, if you won't push it, that is…" and with that she patted him on the back, almost making the puppeteer felt over due to his exhaustion.

"You'll be coming back sooner this time, won't you lazy bones?" Temari asked Shikamaru as she whacked him in the back of his head. "If not, I'll come to your village, seeking your pineapple head and believe me, you don't want that to happen…" she added with a smirk.

"Whatever…" replied the lazy chuunin, with hands in his pockets, but Hinata could swore she saw him blushing slightly. "Coming here would be troublesome, but letting you run lose in Konoha will put me in even more trouble, I guess…"

"Well, since we have this all 'farewell' thing done with…" began Naruto a little nervous. "Lets just head back and…" but just then his eyes widen as he saw Gaara held out his hand right in front of him. The blonde looked at it, shocked, and finally, after he realized what just happened, he held out his. A second later the two Jinchuuriki shook their hands and Hinata smiled under her nose.

Few moments later the Konoha shinobi were already heading back to their village and the redhead walked a little further from his companions, to observe the leaf-nins becoming small dots on the horizon.

"One thing troubles me though…" announced Baki when Naruto and the others left. "Since we were dealing with the Akatsuki, who're casing after the demon vessels, why would Tsunade send that blonde to help us? He is a Jinchuuriki as well…"

"Isn't that obvious?" replied Chiyo with a chuckle.

"What do you mean, Chiyo-baasama?" asked Kankuro confused.

"That blonde brat carries the same burden as Gaara…" she responded calmly. "What kind of horror they both had to go through we can only imagine… the sad thing is that in this world only Jinchuuriki can understand one another… I believe that was that old hag's reason…" and with that she turned around and headed back to her village slowly.

"_Indeed…_" the boy puppeteer agreed in his mind as he looked at his younger brother. "_You always hid your emotions behind that sand mask… the way you acted it'd seem that you never really cared… but what lied behind your barrier… the only one who knows is that Uzumaki kid… but you too found people you can call important, Gaara… isn't that the reason you took off that mask today?_" and with that he smiled slightly as he walked over to the redhead and placed his hand on his shoulder: "Gaara, we should get back… you have duties…"

The Shukaku vessel turned around and nodded. Kankuro instantly saw a small smile on his brother's face. "_Uzumaki Naruto…_" the puppeteer repeated the blonde's name. "_Thank you…_"

---Three days later in Konoha---

"So that's how it is?" asked Tsunade as she read Asuma's report and looked at the scroll Kengo gave Hinata. "Heaven and Earth Bridge in the Grass Country… in a two weeks from today… We cannot be sure if this isn't a trap… people like Kengo… they're not very trustworthy…"

"If it's a trap…" responded Sakura with determination showing on her face. "We'll just have to fight… and speaking of that, who is this Kengo guy? Hinata said he knew Naruto…"

Tsunade exchanged glanced with Jiraiya, who was propping himself against the wall in the corner. The Godaime looked back at the student and replied slowly: "Kengo is… or rather was… one of the best looking shinobi in the Hidden Leaf… he became a missing even not long after become gennin, in the age of six…"

"Six?" Ino's eyes widen. "How can such a kid become a missing-nin?"

"Well…" began the Hokage. "Some things happened… And I guess he couldn't saw the reason why they did… but being just a kid, I'm sure Sarutobi-sensei would allow him to return, if he wanted too… he never came back to Konoha on his own, free will… after he joined the Akatsuki, it was official that he was lost to us…"

"But what I'm asking…" Sakura kept pushing. "Is who he is…"

"Such information is not one you need…" replied Tsunade a little angry. "You should concentrate on preparing to go to the Grass Country… since Kakashi is immobilized for the moment, I'll look for a substitute… also, I'd advice you try finding the third member for your team, coz I'm afraid just you and Naruto won't be enough…"

"Not a problem…" announced the blonde with confidence. "Hey, Shikamaru, wanna join?" and so he turned to the lazy chuunin who seemed to be sleeping as he stood. The pineapple haircut boy opened one of his eyes and looked at the Kyuubi vessel.

"Sorry Naruto, but I can't…" he responded. "It's troublesome, but I'll be responsible for the coming, chuunin exam and I won't be able to leave the village for a month…"

"Yeah and no use asking us…" added Chouji with a sad voice. "Tsunade-sama already assigned us a new mission and it's likely we'll be able to return in two-week time…"

"How about you and your team, Hinata-chan?" with that Naruto turned to the Hyuuga heiress.

"That won't be possible either…" the Godaime responded for the white-eyed girl before she was able to say a word. "Because I have a very important mission for them as well" and with that she gave the Hyuuga heiress two scrolls. "Hinata, give these to Kurenai… one of the scrolls will give her details about the mission, the other is not to be opened before you reach your destination… is that understood?" the white-eyed girl only nodded.

"Actually, you guys can help them out with this…" with those words the Hokage turned to Naruto and Sakura. "If you were to aid them, they might return faster then expected and could help you out during your mission to retrieve Sasuke… what'd you say?"

"Count me in!" yelled the blonde instantly and Hinata only smiled slightly.

"Sorry then, but I think I'll pass…" announced the pink-haired kunoichi. "Naruto, I'll make all the preparations for our mission in the Grass Country… please return safe, you guys…" with that she smiled to her teammate and the white-eyed girl. "_In the Wind I wasn't much help while fighting Sasori… if I am to go against Orochimaru… I need to become stronger!_"

"Well then, you guys will be leaving tomorrow morning…" The Godaime turned back towards Naruto and Hinata. "You shouldn't encounter any shinobi attacks on the way, but this is still an A-rank mission so I expect you'll put your best effort into it… you're dismissed!" and so all the young shinobi, along with Asuma, began to leave.

"Right on, Oba!" cheered the blonde and thanks to that he found himself outside as the first one, by flying through the wall after receiving a punch from Tsunade.

"Was it wise?" asked Jiraiya a little doubtful. "Not only to send Naruto, even though the Akatsuki is after him, but even that Hyuuga girl… don't you remember what happen all those years back?"

"I do remember…" replied the Godaime calmly. "And pretty much that's the reason why I'm sending that girl… I'd give this mission to Gai, but his team has a mission as well, so they're unreachable at the moment…"

"Well, you're the Hokage…" responded the toad sannin. "So the decision is yours to make… however keep in mind that I lost trace of both the Akatsuki and Kengo, so by sending Naruto far away from the village, you're taking a great risk…" and with that he jumped outside the window.

---The next morning---

Naruto stood in front of the village gate, kicking a small rock, awaiting for Hinata and her team to arrive. Finally, after a few minutes, Shino and Kiba appeared, but there was still no sight of the kunoichi.

"Where could they be?" asked the blonde in a loud voice.

"Probably putting make-up or something…" joked the dog ninja. "Don't you know what girls are like? Especially now that you'll be accompanying us on the mission I don't suppose we'll see Hinata until she decides she looks perfectly…"

"What do you mean by that?"

"_What a pinhead…_" Kiba sighed internally and was about to answer, but just then the jounin arrived along with the Hyuuga heiress.

"Okay, listen up…" began Kurenai as the chuunin (along with one gennin) lined-up in front of her. "Our mission is quite simple to explain, however you guys shouldn't expect it to be a walkover… to make long things short: we are to go to the Cloud Country, where we'll meet up with the guide from the Kumo… he'll led us to his village so that we could give this…" with that she held out a golden scroll that Tsunade forbid Hinata to open. "To their Raikage… if everything goes well, we should be able to get back in a week or so…"

"Certainly not a mission that can be classified as 'exciting'…" whined the dog shinobi, but the jounin just ignored his comment. With a quick check of equipment, the five shinobi went towards the Cloud Country.

As they passed the Cloud Country borders, they immediately noticed the surrounding changed. Even though it was still forest, the land seemed more exotic with all the palms and other trees that spread their huge leaves over the travelers heads, protecting them from rain that felt at least once ever three days around here. All that made Kiba recall the time he went to the Rain Country for his Chuunin Exam, where rain felt from the sky daily.

As Hinata raised her sight at the sky, she noticed that it was dark blue with only black clouds floating over it. Birds weren't flying today so most likely the rain will fall down pretty soon. In the shadows of the trees, she noticed many animals hiding with reptiles and amphibians trying to find their was to some open landscape. Snakes were circling around the trees and frogs began their concert, awaiting the water to come from the sky.

The white-eyed girl looked at Shino. Even though he never shown it, he didn't like rain. Due to his style of fighting, during storms his effectiveness decreased and what's more he just didn't like when sky was black.

After a long travel they finally arrived at a small village that was just the concentration of few, wooden huts with the forest surrounding it from all sides. A little further to the north the road went up the hills, which were becoming mountains miles later.

"This is our meeting spot…" announced Kurenai as they walked in the middle of a round square, located in the center of the village. "We're a little early though… probably our contact didn't appear yet… you guys can take a rest for now, but meet back up with me here in about three hours…"

"Understood, Kurenai-sensei!" yelled Kiba as he saluted and turned to his little dog. "Lets check out those bushes, what'd you say, Akamaru?" the dog barked loudly and the two sprinted into the forest, disappearing between the trees a second later.

"He sure is cheerful today…" noticed Hinata quietly.

"Probably he's just excited about new terrain to explore…" replied Shino and then took a quick glare at Naruto. "I guess I'll go too… maybe I could find some rare bugs around…" and without another word he went into the bushes as well.

"So that's leaves just the two of us…" announced Naruto as he placed his hands behind his head. "Lets grab something to eat! I wonder if they have any ramen around here…" but then he looked at the Hyuuga heiress and instantly added: "Unless you have other suggestions, Hinata-chan…"

The two walked into a close-by inn in which the light was even dimmer then outside. Some candles were burning here and there, along with a chandelier just under the ceiling, it didn't help much though. Even the fireplace in the corner seemed pointless.

The moment they entered a man with a hooded on his head, which shadow covered his face, turned slightly to look at them. Hinata looked over her shoulder at the observer, but he immediately got back to eating. The white-eyed girl stared at the mysterious figure for a moment and then followed Naruto to the bar.

"Ramen!" ordered the blonde as he slammed his fist on the deck.

---Meanwhile, far away, locating unknown---

"This is most disappointing…" announced the shadow figure of the Akatsuki leader as Zetsu stood in front of him. "Not only did they didn't capture even one Jinchuuriki, but also Sasori got taken by Kengo… this is certainly most inconvenient… How is Deidara's condition?"

"She should be fine…" replied the jaw-head shinobi. "She's just exhausted… it'd seem that those Konoha brats gave her a hard time… what's worrying though is Kengo's appearance… since he started to act again, I believe it'd be better for Itachi to sat this out…"

"He will not…" the leader interrupted him quickly. "With Sasori out, at least for the time being, we cannot allow ourselves to lose another member… for the time being, tell Itachi and Kisame to concentrate on grabbing the Bijuu in the Hidden Mist…"

"And what about the Kyuubi?"

"That one… should be taken care off soon enough…" responded the leader simply, thus ending their conversation.

---Back to the village in the Cloud Country---

Naruto and Hinata sat on a branch while eating their bowls of ramen. The Hyuuga heiress looked towards the dark sky and then at her crush. "_Dark clouds always seem to gather around you, Naruto-kun… will I ever be strong enough… to fight by your side?_"

"Hinata-chan…" the blonde stopped eating and looked at the kunoichi. "There's something I wanted to tell you for some time now, but somehow I never really got a chance…" the girl instantly blushed and turned away a bit, to hid the fact that her face redden. "Back there, in the Suna… you were right: in stead of blaming myself for what happened, I should just try getting stronger... it's just that sometimes I'm too dumb to realize certain things…" and with that he gave her a wide smile.

"_You have no idea how right you are, Naruto-kun…_" the girl sighed internally as her face turned back to normal color before the whisker-marks continued: "However I did meant what I said back then…" and instantly the Hyuuga heiress's face turned back to being red.

"It's not exactly like that…" she finally replied. "My Byakugan…"

"I don't think you really need it…" he interrupted her as he filled his mouth with noodles. "The way I see it, you can tell what others are feeling anytime… guess it's because you always care about others more then about yourself…"

"I couldn't see through your mask…" she reminded him, lowering her sight.

"Nobody's perfect…" ha announced and a small grin appeared on his face: "Except me maybe…" he joked, making her giggle. "But to say the truth I think I prefered for people not to see how I felt… I can't really explain it… however that's of no importance now… 'living in the past will only make you lose your path'… what counts most is here and now… and the fact that you accepted me the way I am… the fact that all of you did… that is important to me… and for that… thank you…" and with that he wrapped his hand around her, making her blush an even deeper red.

"So, I see Kyuubi is having a good time…" the both heard a voice coming from behind and as they turned around, they saw a man with spiky, sliver hair and golden eyes standing on top of a nearby roof. He had a big, cross-like scar on his left cheek and was wearing an outfit similar to Kakashi's, only his was black. He wore a violet waistcoat on it and had a steel chain wrapped around his left shoulder. Hinata also spotted a golden hilt of the swords sticking from behind his back.

Suddenly there was a flash of light and a loud roar. A second later rain began to fall down as thunder was heard again. "I should consider myself lucky… I almost lost hope of running into the likes of you…"

"_This guy…_" began Naruto as he stared at the man. "_I don't see any hitae-ate… and he's not wearing that stupid black and red overcoat… he's not from the Akatsuki! So what in the world would he wish from me?_"

"Who are you and what do you want from Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata calmly, slowly going into her fighting stance.

"My name is Haraise Kyouki…" responded the man. "And as for what I want from this… Naruto was it? To answer as simple as I can: I want him dead…"

* * *

And so this one ends. Hope you liked it and that you'll leave me a review once you're done.

No jutsu encyclopedia this time around so I feel like this author's note is pretty short, but maybe that's for the best?

Best wishes and until next time, hopefully.


	11. Demon Hunter

**Dynamic Updatto!** Yeah, my grandma is feeling way better now and I just had this great deal of inspiration and so I'm updating ALL my fics this time around! Those of you guys, who read more then one of my fics, after reading this chapter, can go to the other fic they're reading to see 'what happened next'… and those who're reading only one are welcomed to check out my other fics, of course!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. I'm glad you enjoyed it and that you'll like this one at least as much. To answer the questions that appeared in your reviews last time:

**_Who is Kyouki:_** well, to put it simply, you'll know a lot more about him when this chapter ends, so the best way to find out is to read… that way I won't spoil anything.

And before I go any further, I feel a need to straighten two things:

I screwed up (I'm only human). Ziomster was right: the land in which Kumo is located is called Lighting Country, not Cloud Country. My mistake. From this chapter on that's how it will be called (and I'll fix that mistake in the previous chapter soon, when I'll have the time)

In the newest, manga chapter, two new Akatsuki members appeared! I'm actually glad, coz I'd prefer not to 'create' any of my own for this fic. Also a new Jinchuuriki made an entrance, which forced me to change the Kumo part of the fic a bit (btw, when I began writing the mission led to the Hidden Cloud I had no idea Kishimoto-sama will move there as well, seriously), so the next, few chapters may take a little bit longer… sorry bout that.

With that said, I believe the only thing left for me to do is to get on with the show:

**Chapter #11: Demon Hunter**

Naruto jumped back, thus avoiding his torso being cut by the katana's blade. The moment his feet touched the ground, he bended back and propping his right hand on the wet surface, he lunched a kick aimed at the incoming opponent.

Kyouki bended over as he kept running, thus making the blonde's foot go right above his head. When he got close enough to the whisker-marks, the mysterious boy attacked with his katana yet again, this time aiming to cut the Kyuubi vessel's hand.

Having no, other alternative, Naruto used his right hand to bounced of the ground. When he found himself in mid-air, he instantly picked out several kunai and turned to look at his opponent before unleashing the rain of knives at him, just to have all his weapons get deflected by Kyouki's sword.

As he landed on a nearby roof, the whisker-marks breathed heavily, yet didn't took his eyes off his opponent: "What the hell is your problem!" he yelled pissed. "I never even saw you before and judging from the look of your clothes you're not the member of the Akatsuki, so what's the deal!"

"By Akatsuki you mean those guys in red and black robe?" asked Kyouki, his face as cold as it could be. "I have a score to settle with those punks as well… they took the Yonbi away just when I was about to finish it off… a pity…"

"_Yonbi?_" Hinata's eyes widen at hearing that. "_But wasn't that the four-tailed beast that attacked the Hidden Rain Village? Why would he fight it as well?_"

"Seems like you have some serious issues…" announced Naruto still not taking his eyes off the swordsman. "What the hell are you, a Jinchuuriki hunter or something?"

"Boy, you're quick…" replied Kyouki with a smirk. "But I prefer to be called demon hunter… the way you put it, someone might even think the likes of you… are human…" and with that he face became grim as he jumped straight at the blonde with his katana ready to attack again.

Acting on instinct, Naruto picked out another kunai and bended his knees a bit. The moment the demon hunter came close enough with an intend to pierce right through his chest, the blonde hit the blade of his katana from below, thus making the sword go towards the sky, right above his head.

Before Kyouki noticed what was going on, the blonde hit his hand that was holding the katana with an opened palm in the place his elbow was, thus making the sliver-haired boy drop his weapon. The instant his sword struck into the roof, the demon hunter jumped away and landed safely on another rooftop, right next to the one Naruto was standing on.

Without wasting a second, Kyouki picked out a shuriken and threw it straight at the blonde. Seeing that his opponent intended to deflect the shinobi star with the kunai he still held in his hand, he smirked and performed a quick chain of hand seals, ended with a cry: "Shuriken Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"

Naruto's eyes widen as the single shuriken that was coming at him now split into tens. Having no way to block them all, he jumped to his left in hope to avoid the incoming shinobi stars. However, as it seemed he succeeded in dodging, he noticed Kyouki picking out another weapon, this time a long, metal chain ended with a large blade (_A/N: I'm not good when it comes to describing weapons, I'm afraid… to all 'Bleach' fans I can say that I did imagined that blade being similar to the blade of Ichigo's sword_).

The blonde's eyes widen even more as the demon hunter unleashed his chain, making it hit all the shuriken that was coming at the Kyuubi vessel, making them change directions and some managed to struck into the loud mouth's body anyway as he was unable to dodge while still in mid-air.

The leaf-nin clenched his teeth to not let out a yell of pain, yet he still collapsed to the ground as pain shoot through his leg, with had two shuriken struck in it, as he tried to land on his feet. The moment he lost his balance, Kyouki threw another handful of shinobi stars, which came straight at the blonde.

But before either of the shuriken reached him, a sudden, yellow blur appeared in their way. It was Hinata, who, by creating a chakra sphere around her, stopped all the incoming shinobi stars and in the next moment, by spinning around, she blew all of the weapons away.

"Oh, a Hyuuga…" Kyouki stated simply. "Well, I guess I should figure as much from your eyes… some like you is the last one I'd expect to appear in the Lighting Country… I suppose you're not gonna stand aside, are you?"

"Of course not…" replied the white-eyed girl with a confident voice.

The demon hunter only smirked and announced: "Oh well, it's your life…" and the moment he said so, Hinata's eyes widen as her Byakugan allowed her to notice tags wrapped around the kunai laying all around.

In an instant she jumped towards Naruto and pushed him away as the tags got activated. "_A ninjutsu trap!_" the Hyuuga heiress noticed as she slowly got back to her feet. The moment she raised her head, she saw the blade on Kyouki's chain coming right at her. This time however it was the Kyuubi vessel that took action.

The blonde immediately stood before Hinata and grabbed the incoming chain in the place the blade ended and mimicking the kunoichi he began spinning around. As the chain started to wrap around the whisker-marks, Kyouki felt that he's being pulled and in the next instant he flew straight at the two leaf-nins, along with his weapon.

"Hinata-chan, now!" yelled Naruto as the demon hunter got close enough. The Hyuuga heiress acted immediately and stepped forward. Before Kyouki knew it, he received a hit from an opened palm in the chest, which made him let go of the chain and send him flying few meters back.

The silver-haired boy slowly struggled back to his feet. Blood dripped from his mouth as he whipped it with his hand. "_Gentle fist…_" the boy said to himself. "_She is a Hyuuga after all… if that attack would hit my heart I'd probably get effusion and this fight would be over… that white-eyed girl… she missed on purpose…_" and with that he threw a quick glare at Hinata.

"Oh, man, that guy's standing back up!" noticed Naruto with a disappointed voice and then called after Kyouki: "Hey, don't you know when you're beaten?"

"I do…" replied the demon hunter simply. "But this case is different… I'll let you on a little secret: when it comes to Jinchuuriki, I don't care whether I die or live… all that matters, is killing the beast… and if that means losing my life in the process… well, we all have to die someday, what difference does it make?"

"Surely there'd be someone pained by your death…" announced Hinata.

"Seems as though even with those famous eyes of yours you can't see everything…" responded Kyouki emotionless as his eyes stared into space. "There is no-one on this world that cares whether I live or die… and it's all thanks to the likes of you…" and with that he looked at the blonde gennin with his face remaining without emotions.

In the next moment he reached to his hostels and in an instant tens of kunai, combined with each other by a wire. Before the leaf-nins knew it, all the knives got lunched straight at them, but what surprised them is that when Kyouki moved his hands, it seemed to affect the route on which the weapons were flying and only then did they noticed think wires still attached to the incoming blades.

The moment they realized what was going on, they found themselves surrounded by the incoming kunai. They had nowhere to dodge. "_I can't use the Kaiten yet!_" Hinata reminded herself with her eyes widen, but just then she noticed her crush going quick through the chain of hand seals.

"Fuuton: Kaze Teikiatsu!" he called out and in an instant a huge cyclone started circling around him and the white-eyed girl, leaving them safe in its middle. Seeing that Kyouki only smirked moved his hands again, manipulating the kunai again.

Hinata looked at her crush impressed and then, having her bloodline limit still activated, saw through the wind currents and noticed what was happening: "Naruto-kun, he's trying to wrap us in those wires!" she announced, making the blonde act immediately.

The Kyuubi vessel reached for his own kunai and threw them right into the cyclone as its speed decreased a little. The moment all his knives found themselves spinning with the wind, the loud mouth waited for the right moment and when he saw it, he instantly dropped the jutsu.

Kyouki's eyes widen as suddenly the cyclone disappeared and tens of kunai flew in all the directions, cutting the strings thanks to which he was able to control the flight at his own knives. "_Those two… they're pretty good…_" and the moment he thought that, he spotted something with the corner of his eyes.

Instantly he jumped into the air, thus avoiding a small tornado that came right at him from behind. But as he found himself in mid-air, he noticed the exact replica of the attack he just dodge coming at him from the same direction the first assault came.

Having no way to avoid the next tornado, Kyouki acted immediately and bite his finger, making it bleed a little. In the next moment he picked out a small scroll and wrote something on it with his blood, using his thumb. Before anyone knew what was exactly going on, a large halberd appeared in demon's hunter hand, which he used to block the incoming attack.

The silver-haired boy was send flying back, with his weapon blown into pieces, yet he himself stayed mainly unharmed. "Kiba-kun!" Hinata was relieved to see that it was her teammate and his partner that came to the rescue. "Why are you here?"

"I saw that weird cyclone appearing in the town and figured something happened…" replied the dog ninja, not taking his eyes off Kyouki, who slowly got back to his feet. "Who is that guy anyway?" he asked, turning to Naruto. "Another fan of yours?" he joked.

"You might say that…" responded the blonde. "He just don't care to take me alive… more like it's the other way around in this case…" and with that he raised his sight back at the silver-haired boy, who was now walking towards the three, young shinobi.

"Another one…" sighed the demon hunter. "How annoying…" and immediately he wrote once more on his scroll, this time making a long, metal lash with small spikes all over it appear in his hand.

In the next second the lash got unleashed straight at the dog ninja, who was forced to jump into the air in order to avoid the attack. "Fall for the same thing I did a moment ago… how pathetic…" announced Kyouki as he moved his hand, making the lash go up, straight at the defenseless Kiba.

But before the scourge reached the leaf-nin, Naruto appeared between him and the lash, stopping the attack with his hands. In the next instant another blonde jumped out of nowhere and jumping of the first whisker-marks back flew straight at the demon hunter, making the first blonde disappear in the cloud of white smoke.

Kyouki only smirked as he retreated his lash and began spinning it above his head, creating a solid shield, that'd reap Naruto the moment he'd touch it. But to the silver-boy's surprise, Hinata appeared right before him on bended legs, making the lash spin right above her head as well and aimed her opened palm into the weapon master's chest again.

"_Not this time, cutie…_" Kyouki thought to himself with a smirk as he bended to his left and propped his left hand on the ground. In the next moment his feet left the ground, thus making the white-eyed girl hit only air. Using that instant, the silver-haired boy spun on his hand and landed a kick in the back of the kunoichi's head, before landing on his feet. "_So, the Kyuubi used two bushins to draw my attention away from the Hyuuga that charged at me… so where's the original?_"

"Your ass is cooked!" he heard Naruto's voice coming from below him and before he knew it, the blonde's hands shoot from underground and grabbed his ankles: "Doton: Shinjuu Zanshuu no Jutsu!" and in the next second silver-haired boy's head was sticking from above the ground with the rest of his body dig under it.

"To fall for the lamest trick every…" sighed the demon hunter. "How careless of me…"

"Yeah well, you can't move, so I guess this fight is over…" announced the whisker-marks as he bended over a little to be as close to Kyouki's level as he could.

"You demons really tend to be too confident…" stated the silver-haired boy with a smirk. In the next moment Hinata's eyes widen as she only manage to call out: "Naruto-kun, watch out!"

Instantly the blonde jumped back right before a huge explosion covered the area he and Kyouki was, blowing the demon hunter away. "_That guy…_" Naruto thought to himself with clenched teeth and widen eyes. "_He activated an explosive tag to free himself from the ground, even though he knew he'll take most of the damage… he really doesn't care about his own life!_" and with that he landed on the same roof where Kyouki's sword was struck in.

"_What?_" now the demon hunter's eyes widen. "_But why…_" he began, just to have his thought interrupted by the voice that came from behind him: "If you're wondering why your ninjutsu trap didn't went off, I'll tell you that I ordered my bugs to take care of those tags of yours, so that they wouldn't be a bother as we continue…" the silver-haired boy turned around and saw Shino standing right behind him, with two swarms of bugs circling around his hands.

"_Insects…_" Kyouki's eyes narrowed at the sight. "_He's probably the member of that creepy, Konoha clan I heard so much about… this is getting really tiresome… with those three I still had a chance, but having to fight all four of them and with the damage I took from that explosive tag, my chances at defeating them all equals zero…_" and with that thought he turned towards Naruto. "_Seems like I have only one option left…_"

And to everyone's surprise the silver-haired boy threw a kunai straight at the Kyuubi vessel, making the blonde jump back. Instantly the demon hunter performed a standard jutsu and before anyone knew it, he appeared in the place the knife struck the roof. He pulled out his katana out of the roof and pierced straight through the whisker-marks torso. "Game over… Kyuubi…" he announced with a smirk but then his eyes widen as his target disappeared in the cloud of white smoke. "_Another kage bushin?_"

While his view was still covered by the white smoke, the real Naruto charged at him with Rasengan ready and hit the demon hunter's torso with the blue chakra orb, sending him flying into a nearby wall, spinning widely in the process.

Kyouki tried to get back to his feet, only to find out his body didn't listen to him at all. The blonde landed right beside him and just looked into his eyes. The silver-haired boy sighed and announced with a smirk: "Well, this time you really defeated me… just finish this already…"

"No…" replied Naruto simply, making the demon hunter's eyes look surprised at him. "Right now there's no way you can fight back… you're harmless. If I were to kill you right now, I'd only prove that I am what you called me… a monster. But the truth is, above what I carry inside, I'm human, just like you. I don't know what the Jinchuuriki did to you that you hate us so much, but I'm not gonna judge you because of that… even in my own village there are tens of people who hate me thanks to that fox bastard that's sealed inside me… I only hope that this will make you think a little…" and with that he turned around and walked away.

"Well, he should get going…" announced Kiba, breaking the silence that felt between them. "It's almost time to meet with Kurenai-sensei… let's go…" and without another world the blonde followed him with Hinata close behind.

Shino however stayed behind and gave Kyouki a quick glare, before saying: "I do not know how you knew Naruto had the nine-tailed sealed inside him… but know this: even though he does carry a demon inside, he has already proven to be more human then some people I know… it's true that you can't judge people just on the outside, but sometimes even the first impression of the inside can be false… especially if it is the way you blindly see…" and with that said he followed his companions as well.

"_A Jinchuuriki that has friends…_" the silver-haired boy looked to the sky. "_That I haven't seen before… and he is different then Yonbi… is that what you wanted me to understand, Hana-niisan?_"

"Where were you?" Kurenai asked with her arms crossed as she spotted her subordinates walking towards her. "I've been waiting for five minutes already! Shinobi should allow himself to be late! Our contact is already waiting in the tavern!"

"Sorry, Kurenai-sensei…" Hinata apologized. "Naruto-kun and I were attacked by a strange boy and Kiba-kun and Shino-kun aid us in the fight…" but at this point the jounin interrupted her:

"Doesn't matter… as long as you guys are safe… well, follow me, that cloud-nin seems really impatient, so best just not keep her waiting…" and so she headed towards the nearby tavern and Kiba exchanged glances with Naruto as they got surprised by the word 'her'.

As they walked into the tavern, Kurenai sat down at the table at which a young girl their age was already sitting. The Kumo kunoichi had long, blonde hair, clipped in a ponytail, green eyes and she used dark lipstick. The girl wore a black top with short sleeves, made in a way it revealed her navel. Naruto noticed both her hands were wrapped in bandages. Her legs was covered by tight, black pants, wrapped in bandages around her ankles. The hitae-ate with the Cloud symbol could be spotted on her forehead.

The moment Kiba and the Kyuubi vessel spotted her, they began to blush slightly, making Hinata looked at first surprised at the whisker-marks and the next moment a little disappointed. The Cloud kunoichi gave the blonde an interested stare, making his face turn even more red and the white-eyed girl even more angry with her then she already was.

"_That sensation just now…_" the cloud-nin thought to herself. "_Could it be?_"

Meanwhile, not far away from the town, two figures stood in the tree tops, observing the village where the Leaf shinobi were at the moment.

"Well, ain't that a surprise…" announced the first one, wearing black robe with red clouds, whose face was covered in the shadows on the tree tops on which branch he stood. "This is most convenient… wouldn't you agree, Hidan?"

"He… is not our target…" replied the other figure, dressed in the similar way as his companion. "We didn't came here for the Kyuubi… that brat's presence here is unwanted…"

"Don't be like that…" responded the first figure. "We can get two birds with one stone and fix Sasori and Deidara's mistake… besides, with having two beasts against us, there's a higher chance I'll get killed and I know that you wouldn't mind that…"

* * *

And so this chapter ends. Hope you enjoyed it. Please leave me a review once you're done. It'd really mean a lot.

Well, all the jutsus used in this chapter are either from the manga or where used in the previous chapter (I mean Naruto's wind technique… just in case you'd need it, it's description is in the 8th chapter), so I'll skip the jutsu encyclopedia this time around.

Thanks for 'tuning in'. Hope you enjoyed reading this at least as much as I writing it.

Best wishes and until next time, hopefully.


	12. Dark Side of Human Nature

Hi everyone. First off, sorry it took me so long to update this one… I had some trouble with my PC and finished this one only few minutes ago. Hope you'll find this chapter worth waiting for.

Thanks for all the reviews from last time. Nothing really I can respond to, but before I start the next chapter, there's one thing that needs to be said: I goofed up. In the translation I had at the time of uploading the previous chapter, the names of the two, new Akatsuki members were mixed. To put it simply, at the end of the previous chapter there was a dialog between them and the one I named Hidan back then was actually the other one (not sure how to say this… anyway, everything should be in place in this chapter, so…).

With all that said, I believe there's only one thing left for me to do and that is to get one with the show:

**Chapter #12: Dark Side of Human Nature**

The Kumo kunoichi led them towards the mountains. They followed the trail that allow them to reach the bottom of the tops. From there they took a narrow route made in the mountain that led up.

As they continued their journey, sometimes forcing their backs against the cold, mountain walls, they finally reached the end of the trail, which was a gorge with a pile of rocks at it's end. The cloud-nin however kept moving forward and the moment she came close enough to the pile, she bite her finger and draw a symbol with her blood on the largest rock, that was the most out front of all.

To the Konoha shinobi surprise, the huge stone began to lift itself up, until a wide entrance appeared before everyone's eyes. The blonde kunoichi just walked inside without saying a word and the leaf-nins soon followed.

The moment Shino, who was the last one walking, went inside, the boulder got back to its place, leaving them in total darkness. The Kumo guide only performed a quick set of hand seals and in an instant electricity shoot from her hand, lighting up a torch as it escape the kunoichi's arm and hit it.

As they kept on walking, they went deeper into the cave. Hinata shivered slightly as a cold breeze hit them softly. She looked around and in a dim light of the torch she was able to see a lot of stalactites and stalagmites. Near the walls there were a lot of puddles of water, which dripped from the sling. She giggles softly as she saw Akamaru get hit by the water drop and shook his body to get rid of it from his fur.

The walls were grey and damp, while the passages leading to the other parts of the tunnel were usually small and narrow, sometimes located quite high and the only way to reach them was to use the natural "stairs" leading to the top of the tunnel.

"Yugito-san…" Hinata began shyly as she walked over to the kunoichi leading them. "I wanted to ask you about this tunnel… I mean, the route we had to pass to get here was pretty long and not an easy one… is this the only way to your village? Because if it is, I was wondering how do you receive missions from customers…"

"They send it by birds or contact one of our shinobi that always appear in the nearby towns at least once a week…" replied the cloud-nin coldly, without even turning towards the Hyuuga heiress and keeping her sight on the trail.

Finally they reached the end of the tunnel, which turned out to be a large, wooden gate with the kanji symbol for 'thunder' painted in the middle. Two guards gave the group a suspicious glare, but noticing Yugito they immediately began opening the gates, shivering slightly. Naruto noticed the look in their eyes: it was the same look he kept receiving all those years.

The Kumo kunoichi led them through the gate and the Leaf shinobi finally saw the Hidden Cloud Village. The town was separated into few districts, each placed on the different mountain. The only way to get from one district to another (_A/N: expect the Body Flicker technique_) were long, wooden bridges that connected the mountains, however in most cases one district was connected with only three or four other. The bridges weren't really stable and a stronger blow of wind would certainly make them swing from left to right.

Being located high in the mountains made the air in the village chilly. Hinata shivered again as another breeze blew. Once the wind calmed down, she looked up only to see the tops of the highest towers disappear behind the white cloud that covered the tops of the mountains.

Most of the buildings had at least few floors and their roofs were usually sharp. When Kurenai asked Yugito about this, she replied that in such a place where wind blows hard, its easier to keep your balance on such roofs as you can always grab the spiky part. The buildings themselves were usually grey, some with red and green, flat roofs, but the Hyuuga heiress also spotted some symbols here and there, written on the walls with golden paint.

Plants didn't grew here and as Yugito announced, all the farms were located bellow. Water on the other hand was not a problem: every district had its own water source, usually in the form of a lake, but in some places a waterfall was just coming out of the mountain, as Shino assumed, being the beginning of some river, as the water went down the streets with the special tunnels and fall bellow, disappearing in the white mist covering the view of the valleys under the village.

The Cloud kunoichi led them through the city towards the Raikage's palace. It turned out to be a three-level estate built, like pretty much every building in the village, from grey stone. Once they passed the gates, they entered a rocky "garden" where stones were placed all around, taking different shapes. Hinata also noticed statutes standing here and there.

After a short walk they reached massive, wooden doors, decorated with the eagle drawn in golden paint in the middle of them. At this point one of the guards took the role of the guide, though Yugito still assisted them.

They walked through the narrow passages, which all looked the same (_A/N: at least in Naruto's opinion_), maybe except paintings here and there, most representing the face of famous, Kumo shinobi. Hinata, being a member of a noble and powerful clan, actually managed to recognize some of the face, earning from time to time a nod from Yugito.

When they finally reached the Raikage's office, the guard knocked twice on the door and after hearing 'enter' the six shinobi walked inside. Kiba looked around amazed, noticing tens of hunting trophies hanging on the walls, along with a weapon gallery on the left wall from the entrance. All sort of blades hung there: from katana, through halberds, bows, Fuuma Shuriken and daggers, ending on unique weapons, such as bo (a fighting stick), dao (a type of sword) and even suis (you might say that's a sword too), most decorated with golden paint.

"I've been expecting you…" they all heard a voice and as they turned in the direction it came from, they saw a man about forty years old, though his posture aged him much more: spiky, grey hair and light blue, also blank, eyes. His face was full of small scars, some going across his mouth and left eye. He was wearing a classical, Kage robe and only the headgear with the kanji symbol for 'lighting' was laying on his desk. "I trust Yugito took good care of you…" and with that he threw the kunoichi a quick glare.

Instantly Kurenai bowed, spotting them man, with her subordinates following and after she raised her head, she held out the scroll she was carrying. The Kumo leader nodded slightly and took it from her.

The Raikage unwrapped the scroll and carefully read it. After a longer while he placed in on his desk and without looking at the leaf-nins, he said, staring at the window: "Tsunade sure surprised me with all of this…" he admitted. "I'd never thought that she'll actually decide to make a move like that… a great treat must lay over the Leaf if she chooses to do what she did…" and with that his eyes stopped at Hinata: "Tell, my child, are you aware of what happened thirteen years ago?"

The Hyuuga heiress only nodded, but Kiba couldn't hold his anger down this time and exploded, placing himself between the Cloud leader and his teammate: "Of course she does! She's the one your ninja tried to kidnap!"

The Raikage's eyes widen slightly, yet he regain his posture almost instantly: "So you're Hyuuga Hinata…" he looked at the white-eyed girl with sad eyes. The kunoichi only nodded, turning her gaze towards the floor. The Kumo leader let out a sigh and continued: "I guess it's not worth much, but I am sorry for what have occurred that time… shinobi world is always full of traitory and low tricks…" as he said so, Naruto's head made a quick motion, but no-one except Yugito managed to spot that. "Yet to do something like that to a three-year-old is still unacceptable… I won't ask you for forgiveness… maybe just for your understanding…" and with that his looked at Kurenai once more: "I'll prepare the information for Tsunade today, but it's rather late… if you wish to do so, I'll arrange you a place to spend the night…"

"Thank you, Raikage-dono…" the female jounin bowed again and headed towards the door with her subordinates following her. As they exited the palace, Naruto immediately turned towards the Cloud kunoichi and with a wide smile, he asked:

"So, are there any ramen shops around here?" and the moment he said so, puppy eyes replaced his normal ones. Yugito took a single step back with a drop of sweat falling from her face, while she looked around for help.

'Don't worry…" Shino calmed her down. "You realize this quickly while around Naruto…"

"Well, there is one…" replied the blonde kunoichi with a little chilly voice, regaining her posture. "It's in the neighborly district…" and so she pointed west. "But first you should take care of the place to sleep…"

"You gotta learn, Yugito-chan, that there are some priorities…" joked the blonde as he began walking in the direction the cloud-nin pointed. The Kumo kunoichi fought her anger for a moment, before releasing it loose and hitting the whisker-marks on the back of his head.

"Never call me 'chan'!" she yelled, making the Kyuubi vessel shiver in horror. Her eyes stopped at the blonde boy after that. She kept staring at him, thought Naruto couldn't tell if it was more curiosity, pity or understanding. He was only sure he knew that look from somewhere.

"I guess I can show you…" Yugito finally announced, letting out a sigh and heading in the direction she pointed earlier. The whisker-marks smiled widely and followed the blonde kunoichi, leaving the rest of the Leaf shinobi a little confused.

Hinata gave Kurenai a questioning glare and noticing that, the female jounin only replied with a nod to the unasked question. Immediately the Hyuuga heiress ran after the two blondes, who were already halfway through the bridge leading to another district.

"Is it wise to separate like that?" asked Kiba with a tiny drop of jealousy in his voice. "Especially Hinata, after all Kumo was always after the Hyuuga bloodline limit… what insurance do we have that they won't attack her now, when we are on their territory?"

"They won't…" assured Kurenai. "You can trust me on that…" and with that she began walking through another bridge, with Shino following her closely. The dog ninja gave one, last look in the direction the two kunoichi went with the loud mouth and then joined his sensei and companion in their trip.

After a little while, Naruto, Hinata and Yugito finally found the ramen stand. As they sat at the table, the waiter came, asking for their order. The whisker-marks check the menu and after a short hesitation ordered several bowls of different favors.

The Cloud kunoichi's eyes widen, but as she glared at Hinata, the white-eyed girl and giggled slightly and ordered a single bowl of miso ramen. Yugito just shrugged and made her order as well, giving the menu back to the waiter, who gave the girl a quick glare.

They waited for their order in silence: Hinata was a bit uncomfortable with Yugito's presence, the Cloud kunoichi didn't seemed in the mood to talk at all and Naruto was to excited to even notice the fact that no-one said a word.

Finally the Kumo shinobi was the first one to speak: "How did you obtained it?" she asked, gaining the other blonde's attention. "Don't look at me like that, you know very well what I'm talking about… I guess it takes one to know the other… or maybe it's just that look in our eyes that makes it easy to notice someone of your own kind… but no matter what it is, from the moment I saw you in that town, I somehow knew you were like me…"

"I'm not sure if I understand what you mean…" announced Naruto, looking at the kunoichi suspiciously. Just then the waiter came back with the girls order and the first bowl of the loud mouth's, but that was the first time Hinata saw her crush not paying attention to the ramen that was placed before him.

"I'm talking about your… roommate…" replied Yugito calmly, also not even bothering to look at her bowl. In stead, she looked deeper into the other blonde's eyes and smiled slightly: "Now that I took a closer look, I guess it were the eyes after all…"

"What are you getting at?" demanded the whisker-marks.

"Yes, I can see it in your eyes…" continued the cloud-nin, ignoring the loud mouth's last question. "You know it… you know what it's like… and I wonder what effect it had on you… what really lies beneath that mask of yours…" and with that a tiny smirk appeared on her face: "You know it… you know what it's like to get in touch with dark side of human nature… it's the fate of all of us… those who are different…"

"Those who are different…" Naruto repeated and then his eyes widen: "You mean…?"

"You couldn't tell?" Yugito responded before the leaf-nin could finish his question. "The world that we live in is always different from that of others… and we are always marked by it… but you should know that just as well as I do…"

"It's not the same…" agreed the leaf-nin. "But that just means we have to work harder to make it better… after all, neither me nor you can change it into a normal one, no matter how much we try…"

"So you still haven't reached the darkest corners of it…" announced the kunoichi with a smile. "Maybe it was different from you, but you just don't see it… cold glares, loneliness and silent hatred form just the tip of all that… it seems I was wrong… what you faced so far is just the shade… our world lies within the darkest corners of human hearts…"

The Kyuubi vessel looked at her a little confused, but at this point Hinata decided to cut in: "You mean the lack of acknowledgement… missing the prove that you exist…"

Yugito turned towards the white-eyed girl like she just noticed her. Her eyes were a little widen as he looked into the peril pupils of the Leaf kunoichi. As the Kumo ninja's eyes began to narrow, the Hyuuga heiress lowered her sight at the table.

The blonde kunoichi smirked slightly and suspecting she might laugh at Hinata's comment, Naruto instantly turned her attention back to him: "What's so funny?"

"Funny?" repeated Yugito. "No, I'm more surprise for her to realize this better then you do, that's all…" and with that she spoke to the white-eyed girl: "Indeed, for a Hyuuga to understand something like this is truly unexpected…"

"Probably coz your eyes lack acknowledgement as well…" stated the other blonde, getting angry. "Yes, our world is different from normal people, but do you really think that the likes of us are the only ones who can be alienated? You think that only we have to prove that we are… that we exist?"

"When you fade away in other people's eyes, the best thing you can do, is repay them with the same thing…" announced the cloud-nin with her face as grim as every.

"No!" Naruto disagreed, rising his voice. "What good will giving up do? You think that you'll find acknowledgement when you're not giving any yourself? The way you're acting you just make everything think that they were right about!"

"So you suggest I'd try doing something good for them?" replied Yugito with a serious face. "Sorry, but I don't intend to be a good girl just so that everyone will turn away from me with my first mistake… been there, done that… and after everything, you're left alone anyway…"

"You're wrong, Yugito-san…" announced Hinata quietly, making both Jinchuuriki look at her again and, for some reason, both seemed to calm down a bit. "Naruto-kun was always looked down upon… but he never gave up and he gain people's acknowledgement… and I know that he'll be able to hold on to it… because no matter what, I'll always see him…"

"Is that so?" asked the blonde kunoichi with a tiny smirk as she looked at the boy, who blushed slightly. "But you know what… that's exactly the same thing my teammate said just a day before he called me a monster…"

Both leaf-nins stared at her for a moment. Silence felt on the table yet again before Yugito decided to speak up again, breaking it: "I was once full of hope… just your average, good girl… but the thing that people are not something you can place your faith into…" and with that she stood up and began walking away.

Neither Naruto nor Hinata said a thing. They just stared at the back of walking Yugito, who soon disappeared behind the corner. Making sure that the two, Konoha shinobi couldn't see her, the Kumo kunoichi propped her back on a wall and looked at the starless, night sky.

"_Believing that humans can change…_" she said to herself with sorrow in her eyes. "_Now that's the best joke I heard in a long while…_" and turning her sight away from the sky, she continued walking.

"Yugito-san is acting a little strange…" noticed Hinata quietly, yet Naruto only shook his head in disagreement before replying: "No… she just had too many experiences with people who look, but can't see…" and with that he let out a sigh. "It seems that humans simply prefer to stay blind…"

As he said so, his head lowered. Noticing that, the white-eyed girl slowly held out her hand and grabbed the boy's arm. The blonde gave her a surprised look at first, but almost immediately it changed into a smile, which made the Hyuuga heiress face that was already red, redden even more.

"You know, Hinata-chan…" began the blonde, also getting red on the face. "We really should eat that ramen or it will get cold… the night is chilly today…" the girl only nodded after a short pause and they both started eating at their typical speed.

Meanwhile, unaware to anyone, two figures wearing black robes with red clouds on them stood at the beginning of the trail Yugito used to lead Kurenai's cell into the Hidden Cloud Village.

A man with medium-length, white hair gelled back and hazel eyes smirked as he looked at the mountains before him and his companion. He was carrying a large, red scythe with three blades on his back and his hitae-ate was tied around his neck. And on it was the slashed symbol of Hidden Rain Village. "This seems like the place…" he stated, giving his comrade a quick glare.

"What are you so happy about?" asked another man with his hair hidden behind a grey, shinobi mask. His eyes were violet (_A/N: well, that's what I assume_) and on his forehead was a headband with the slashed, Bakufu symbol. "Is it because that stupid 'man and the mountain' thing of yours?"

"You shouldn't laugh at my religion, Kakuzu…" responded the one with the scythe. "Just like I try not to criticize your love for money…" and with that he got back to looking at the trail. "So, shall we go forward or will we just wait here?"

"Going in right now is pointless…" replied the one called Kakuzu. "And it won't even bring us a single, golden coin… sooner or later Kyuubi will leave the village and that is when we'll get him… and so will the six-tails (_A/N: yeah, I know Yugito had two-tailed sealed inside her in the manga, but this is one thing that I can't change_)… we just have to wait…"

And so night falls above the Hidden Cloud village. Without a single star on the sky, darkness wraps itself around the Kumo Gakure almost as a presage of what awaited the young shinobi the next day.

* * *

And thus another chapter ends. Hope you've enjoyed it. I'll try to finish the next one sooner, though with having still very little information about the two, new Akatsuki members, I'm not sure. Anyways, next time there will be much more romance, but a big fight is coming up.

No jutsus used this time, so I guess I should wrap this up.

Best wishes and until next time, hopefully.


	13. Learning to Live

I know it took me like forever to update and I'm sorry. Things happened and I also wanted to wait until we get to know a bit more about the two, new Akatsuki. Sadly, still very little was revealed about them, so…

Anyway, I finally managed to finish this and so I'm submitting. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. I hope you'll find this one worth waiting for and that you'll enjoy this one at least as much as the previous.

Without further to do:

**Chapter #13: Learning to Live  
**

Naruto awoke as sunrays hit his face. He sat up on his bed and yawning, stretched himself. As he scratched his head, still not totally conscious, he looked towards the window and saw Kiba still laying on his bed, with his back turned towards the "light" and Akamaru sleeping in his shadow.

The dog ninja snored loudly, annoying the blonde, but the whisker-marks managed to calm himself down and didn't do anything bad to his companion. Nor something he might've regretted later on.

The Kyuubi vessel looked to his left where Shino should be sleeping, but the bug user's bed was now empty. "_He got up before Kiba did?_" Naruto thought to himself surprised, but then just shrugged that off and went to the bathroom in the attempt to brush his teeth.

At that time Shino was walking through the streets of the Hidden Cloud village, already crowded, even though the hour was still rather early. The sun slowly began to appear over horizon and grey aura started to fade away.

The bug user walked right next to the small area where grass grew, surrounded with a low wall. On top of that wall sat Yugito, looking at the rising sun almost as its rays falling on her face brought her calm. The leaf-nin just threw her a quick glare and noticing that the kunoichi was ignoring him, he just moved forward.

But then Yugito called after him, with her eyes now closed, as she seemed to take incredible pleasure from the morning sun shining on her face: "You shouldn't walk through the streets of this village alone… after all, you're not a shinobi from it…" and in the next second she jumped down from the wall and landed right before the bug user: "Shino, was it?"

The boy merely nodded, still not saying a thing, which annoyed Yugito a little, yet she didn't show it: "How was your night?" she asked simply, but Shino could feel that she wasn't really interested in the answer.

"Why are you even asking?" he replied with a question calmly, as usual keeping his stone face. That sort of acting was probably one of those that annoyed Yugito the most. Through all her life she have seen cold glares or what's worse, glares that went right through her. In time she learned to accept that and just ignored people looking at her like that back. But in case of people like the leaf-nin that was now standing before her, she could never tell what was his opinion about her. The lack of that knowledge annoyed her to no end.

"Where's the blonde idiot?" she responded, ignoring the bug user's last question. "Don't tell me that dope is still sleeping? I'm suppose to take you to the Raikage first thing in the morning…"

"It BUGS you, doesn't it?" asked Shino with hands in his pockets. Yugito only threw him a confused glare as he continued: "The fact that you thought Naruto was the same as you and yet it turned out he's totally different…" and as a note of rage began to appear on the kunoichi's face, the leaf-nin added quickly, completely unlike himself: "He haven't told me, but I could tell that you were in some way connected with him… and I know you think differently, because Sabaku no Gaara also had a completely different point of view then him, before he meet Naruto…"

"Sabaku no Gaara?" the girl's eyebrow went up. "You mean the Sand's Kazekage? I wouldn't think the two knew one another…" and with that a tiny smirk appeared on her face. "But that matters not really… I know what it was for them in their villages… but there's some difference between me and that blonde… for you see, he still lacks this final thing that awaits you, when you're a Jinchuuriki…"

"I'm not gonna pretend I know what you speak off…" announced the bug user calmly. "I do not carry a demon inside me, so I can only imagine what you went through… but as you'll spend some time with Naruto, you'll see that he has a strange gift… and even you might get your hope in people back…" and with saying so, he continued walking, soon disappearing from the kunoichi's view.

"_Only imagine?_" Yugito repeated in her mind with a short laugh. "_There's no way you can imagine something like that… coz even your worst nightmares can't compare…_" and with that thought he looked at the sun, which raised a little. "_It's something that one is born with and others have no chance at experiencing that… aren't those your words, Hana?_"

---That time, elsewhere---

Naruto walked out of his room into the hallway as he stretched himself yet again, closing his eyes. At this time the door to the room across the hall opened with a slight noise and as the blonde opened his eyes, he saw Hinata coming out from the bathroom in her kimono.

The white-eyed girl froze instantly, unsure as to how react, giving the Kyuubi vessel to "look her over". She was wearing a yellow kimono, decorated with black palms at the bottom. A big, red ribbon was tied on her back and her hair was clipped in the traditional way.

Finally realizing that he's been staring at her for some time now, his face basically as red as the kunoichi's or maybe even more, he turned around with an embarrassed 'sorry' escaping his mouth. The Hyuuga heiress didn't reply, mostly due to the fact that she was both too excited and embarrassed as well. She just slowly walked over to the door leading to the room she shared with Kurenai and disappeared behind the frame soon after.

As he heard the door being shut, Naruto let out the air for the first time since he spotted Hinata entering the hallway. His blush didn't vanished at all as the sight he just saw kept appearing before his eyes, seeming more magnificent each time.

The blonde regained his posture only because of Kiba, who stick his head out the door to their room and noticing his friend standing stiff, he asked: "What the hell are you doing?" but noticing the color of his face, he had to hold himself back from laugher. He saw Hinata blush countless times, but for some reason seeing THAT Naruto mimicking her turned out to be one of the most hilarious sights he has even seen.

Some time later Shino arrived back and announced that Yugito is already waiting. Kurenai just took one sandwich him her and getting up from her seat, she stated: "There's no need for you guys to go with me really… the whole thing will probably take an hour or two, so if you want, you can go have some fun in the city, but don't overdo it…" and with that she went outside, where the Cloud kunoichi was suppose to wait for her.

"So we got a whole hour to ourselves!" announced Kiba with a big smile. "What do you guys wanna do?" and getting ahead of Naruto, he added quickly: "No, we won't go to eat ramen…"

At hearing that the blonde immediately lowered his hand and became a bit grim, making Hinata giggle slightly at the scene. Seeing no, other proposals, the dog ninja just stood up and slowly walked over towards the door with his dog following him: "Fine, you guys just do what you want, Akamaru and I will go for a walk. See you guys in an hour!" and with that he was gone, jumping from one roof onto another.

Naruto and Hinata looked questioningly on Shino, who simply stood up as well and headed towards their rooms without really saying anything. "Looks like it'll be just the two of us…" the blonde finally stated as he looked towards the Hyuuga heiress, but the moment he did so the scene from this morning appeared in his head again and instantly his face became red once more.

As he looked away, hoping that will stop his sudden, fast heart beating, he continued with a little shaking voice: "So… what would you say for some ramen, Hinata-chan?" he finally managed to spit out as for some reason he couldn't understand, he felt that he started sweating slightly.

"Sounds good…" replied the girl with a warm smile as she slowly stood up with the blonde following her tracks. At that time Yugito was walking down the streets, towards the gate. She was told that Kurenai will be escorted there, along with her subordinates, so the only thing kunoichi was suppose to do is to bring them down the mountains.

As she sat on a nearby rock and stared into space, Kiba and Akamaru went by. The blonde girl just looked to the sky to see the spinning figure of the dog ninja coming above her with a rover following its master.

"You loved animals too…" the kunoichi said to herself out loud. "But you did prefer cats… that black fur-ball of yours sure annoyed me…" and so she laughed to herself. "I wish I could go back to those days… to the way things were… even though they were just an illusion…"

Meanwhile Naruto and Hinata were leaving the ramen stand, after the blonde finished his twelve bowl of his favorite meal. The whisker-marks looked at the sun and after a short calculation, he turned towards his companion: "We still have some time, Hinata-chan… where do you wanna go now?"

"How about we just walk around the town?" purposed the white-eyed girl and after receiving a small nod from the Kyuubi vessel, she grabbed him by the hand and dragged him behind her towards the wide alley with all sorts of shops located on both sides.

As the two went down the street, they made several stops before different stores. Naruto got really interested in weaponry the moment he noticed magnificent blades displace behind the window. First thing that caught him attention was a spectacular spear with a big blade on the end, which stick was surrounded with gold, thus making its design very unique.

Tens of swords awaited those who entered the shop, each made differently. Some had golden handles and strange runes on the blades, other were decorated with colorful jewels, there were even some made from the special mix on metals, in many cases about which Naruto didn't even heard about.

Hinata on the other hand wanted to visit almost every boutique in the alley. In most cases she only looked the dresses up and down before leaving the shop, but several times she tried something on, just to 'have some fun'.

The blonde patiently sat down, waiting for the Hyuuga heiress to finish changing into another kimono that she saw and instantly the event from this morning appeared before his eyes, making his face turn red yet again.

As time went on and the white-eyed girl was still in the changing room, Naruto managed to regain his posture once more, however he wasn't destined to keep it for too long. The moment his blush faded away and his heart stopped pounding, Hinata exited the changing room.

This time things certainly got 'worse' for the blonde the moment he saw the Hyuuga heiress in another kimono, this time a light blue one, decorated with silver snowflakes all over. A big, yellow ribbon could be seen tied behind her back.

And that sight turned out to be enough to make Naruto 'go wild'. In an instant his face turned completely red and he felt a nose bleed incoming. His collar started to be too tight and his heart began pounding as it wanted to escape his chest.

"So what do you think, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked the boy, who just sat there with his mouth wide open. She blushed slightly as she spun on her feet to show the entire outfit to her crush.

"Marvelous…" he replied quietly as he felt that he's starting to sweat. For a short while he said nothing more and then suddenly he realized something and began to talk a little too quickly: "Oh, you mean the kimono! It's great! You really look nice in it, Hinata-chan!"

The girl's blush deepened as she smiled to the Kyuubi vessel and then headed towards the changing room, disappearing in it a moment later. The whisker-marks still sat that almost as if he got glued to the chair. Finally, after some struggle, he managed to get up and swallowing his saliva loudly, he 'borrowed' a bottle of water from a nearest passer-by and drank it up.

While he apologized to the confused cloud-nin, Hinata exited the changing room in her usual clothes and smiling slightly under her nose she bought the dress she just tried on before the blonde even managed to turn around and notice her doing so.

As they both exited the store, with the Hyuuga heiress carrying a bag with her, Naruto spotted a small stand with ice cream and immediately dragged the kunoichi there and ordered some. Soon the two were walking down the alley, licking few, rainbow-colored balls.

They kept on walking, stopping by in a store from time to time. But as they went, Naruto noticed something: many of the people they were passing by threw them a cold glare. He was used to it and most likely he'd just ignore it if it wasn't for the fact that for the first time those glares wasn't for him. They were aimed at Hinata.

The white-eyed girl lowered her sight slightly as she noticing the blonde's realization. Her smile slowly faded away. For some reason she didn't bare to look at her crush. However the Kyuubi vessel seemed to sense that, because he suddenly said: "That's why Yugito wasn't right…"

Hinata raised her sight at the boy, a little surprise, but she still didn't say a thing. "It's not just the Jinchuuriki… everyone that's a little different… everyone that's special… we are all outcasts in the society. And it's just because people can't except that someone is different… it doesn't matter who we are, we are not like the rest and as such, we should be allowed to walk beside them…"

"This is how you felt all this time, didn't you Naruto-kun?" she finally manage to speak up, yet she still haven't raised her head to look at him. "This is the fate you, Gaara-san… even Yugito-san had to face…"

The blonde didn't response immediately as if he was thinking about the right reply. On the one hand he could tell her that she was right. But on the other, he didn't want to admit it. He knew that she understood his pain, at least to an extend, and admitting that she's right would be painful for her as well.

"When one receive such treatment, he also learns how to deal with it…" he finally replied, after a longer silence. "I fooled around to make people notice me… Gaara became a loner before he entered the Chuunin Selection Exam… and Yugito just repaid people with the same glares they threw at her… but if you ask me if any of this is a good way to fight a thing like that… I can't really answer that… and I don't think Gaara or Yugito could either… those things are personal and as such there's no general rules to those… but there's one thing that you have to do in order to be able to keep living… and that is accepting the fact that they look at you like that… and do what you can, to not see those glares ever again…"

"You had to take it for so long, Naruto-kun…" noticed the Hyuuga heiress with sadness in her voice. "I don't think I can even imagine how you felt all this time…"

"No, I suppose you can't…" nodded the blonde, suddenly crossing her way and looking deep into her eyes as she raised her head. "And I'm not gonna lie that it was easy… but now it is… coz I have someone to talk to about it…" and with that he gave her a warm smile.

The white-eyed girl blushed deeply, but she didn't turn away this time. She only smiled back and with a slight nod, she replied: "Of course you can, Naruto-kun…" and after a short moment of hesitation, she added: "That's what friends are for…"

"Yo guys!" they suddenly heard as Kiba landed in front of them along with Akamaru. "Sorry to interrupt your…" with this he hesitated a bit and threw a quick glare at each of the two. "… date…" and as he said the 'd' word both, other leaf-nins started to have a blushing contest, but the dog ninja only smirked and then continued: "But Kurenai-sensei wants us to meet her at the gate. We're leaving…" and with that he guided the two red-faced teens to their meeting place.

---That time, outside Kumo---

Hidan and Kakuzu were resting in the tree tops near the trail leading up the mountains, awaiting their target to show up. None of them even notice someone coming, until they both heard a voice all too familiar: "After what happened in the Sand I guess you Akatsuki became desperate to get the Jinchuuriki, since you two got send here…"

As they turned calmly in the direction the voice came from and stopped a certain blonde with long hair, made into dreadlocks. Kakuzu, who almost immediately looked away again, was the first to speak: "You came here to save the Kyuubi?"

"Nothing of the sort…" came a response as a big smile appeared on Kengo's face. "Neither Kyuubi nor six-tails interest me in any way… I just decided to drop by, see how things were going… by the way, with Sasori gone, what did you guys do? You didn't left another, empty spot like the time Orochimaru quit, did you?"

"Tobi took his place…" came a short response from Hidan, who was still observing the blonde with a suspicious glare. The dreadlocks burst out laughing at hearing that, but he soon calm himself down a bit and replied: "I feel sorry for Deidara then… boy, I'd sure hate to be stuck with him as my partner… maybe you fellows would like to turn her fate around?"

"What do you mean?" demanded Kakuzu simply, still not turning back towards Kengo. The former leaf-nin only smirked slightly before replying: "I'm done with him… I know that you probably don't care much, but just in case, we'll be waiting for 'saving' at the old meeting spot… the one in Rain Country… I guessed it'd be best to inform you two about that… after all…" but before he could finish, he was cut off by Kakuzu:

"You think this is a good joke, don't you?" he asked coldly, this time turning to face the blonde: "You expect me to believe that you'd came all this way just to tell us that you spared Sasori and inform us where he is?"

"Believe what you want…" responded Kengo a little annoyed. "But don't tell me you expected from me to fight you guys… you know very well, that among everyone, you're the one I'd like to fight the least… Hidan…"

The scythe user only narrowed his eyes at that, but said nothing. The blonde's eye twitched split second, but none of the two Akatsuki seemed to notice. "Do with what I told you what you desire…" the former leaf-nin concluded and with that he was gone.

"You think he spoke the truth?" asked Hidan with an emotionless voice, but his partner only narrowed his eyes: "Maybe… but right now we have other things to worry about… the Jinchuuriki… they're coming…"

_**---to be continued---**_

And so this chapter ends. Hope you enjoyed it. I can't think of anything more to say, so I guess that's a raw for me. But do 'tune' in next time for the big showdown with Akatsuki.

Best wishes and until next time, hopefully.


	14. Young Spirit

Yeah, I'm aware it took me a bit longer then usual to update and sorry about it. Things got pretty screwy and I also hoped that Kishimoto-sama will reveal a little more about Hidan and Kakuzu. In the end, that last idea backfired and so… well, at least I finished this.

I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. I'm really glad you enjoyed it and hope that you'll like this one at least as much. Since most of you wanted to see how the showdown with the two Akatsuki members will go, so all you need to do is read this chapter to find out.

Without further to do, here's the brand new chapter of "Love, Demons and Bloodlines":

**Chapter #14: Young Spirit  
**

"You just couldn't help yourself with that 'ramen to go', could you?" asked Kiba sweat dropping as he looked at Naruto who was just finishing his instant meal. The blonde looked at him as he sucked in some more noodles. He swallowed and then replied as serious as he could: "Second, ramen breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day… right after ramen first breakfast and last ramen dinner… and ramen lunch…"

"Do you have any meal in your daily schedule that doesn't have anything to do with ramen?" asked the dog ninja, sweat dropping even more as the whisker-marks began thinking it through. After a longer while, he finally replied: "Yup… dessert!" and with that Kiba only let out a sigh while Hinata giggled slightly.

Yugito only shoot the young shinobi a glare over her shoulder and shook her head slightly. Shino, who walked beside her, noticed her reaction, but decided to say nothing. In stead he took a quick look at the sun. It was already late afternoon.

But as they went down the road, Kiba suddenly stopped and sniffed the air with Akamaru following his example soon after. Noticing hers subordinate behavior, Kurenai froze in her tracks and looked around. Soon her eyes set on a nearby tree tops. In a flash she went through a series of hand seals, making the two Akatsuki hiding in the trees to widen their eyes.

"_They noticed us already?_" Kakuzu was truly surprised. "_This might be a bit more problematic then I assumed…_" and with that he took a quick glare at Hidan. The scythe user only nodded and the two get out of their hiding spot and faced the five shinobi. "_Akatsuki!_" Yugito noticed instantly as she saw the outfits of the new arrivals.

"You two…" began Kurenai as she went into her fighting stance. "You're from the organization Uchiha Itachi is in, aren't you? So you came for Naruto?" but as she asked that, Kakuzu only set his eyes on Yugito as he replied: "Not only…"

And at that very moment Hidan's scythe shoot out, aiming at the female Jinchuuriki. The cloud-nin immediately jumped back as she performed a quick set of hand seals: "Raiton: Denryuu no Jutsu!" in a flash she slammed her hands to the ground, making electricity go at an incredible speed straight at the two Akatsuki.

Kakuzu immediately jumped back, making the young shinobi eyes widen as they saw him fly above them and landing behind their backs. Hidan on the other hand only brought his scythe down on Kiba, who dodged in the last moment, and as the three blades sunk into the ground the former rain-nin pulled himself forward using his own weapon and found himself near the dog ninja.

Acting on instinct, Kiba instantly used his hands to bounce off the ground and came spinning at the Akatsuki member, with a loud call: "Tsuuga!" Having no hope to avoid the attack, Hidan swung his weapon once more, this time aiming to cut the dog chuunin in half before his attack would reach him.

It was then that a sudden, yellow blur appeared out of nowhere and placed its back in the scythe's handle way, making the blades stop several inches away from Kiba. The blur turned out to be Hinata, who in a flash spun on her foot and delivered an attack with an opened palm into Hidan's chest and managed to move out of the way right before the dog ninja hit him with his own technique, sending the former rain-nin sliding few meters away.

"_So that girl's a Hyuuga…_" concluded Kakuzu as he blocked another punch from Naruto, who kept on pushing him back. Finally the former waterfall-nin decided to counter attack and launched a fist at the blonde's stomach, only to have the Kyuubi vessel jump back in time to avoid the assault.

In an instant the whisker-marks performed his standard technique and now there were two blondes in stead of one charging at the Akatsuki member, who now found it much harder blocking all the attacks coming from the leaf-nin.

The first blonde launched a punch aimed at Kakuzu's head, but the missing-nin managed to grab the incoming fist with his left hand. But at the same time, the same Naruto launched a kick into the Akatsuki member's face, this time blocked with the older ninja's right hand. As he had no more hands to block, the other blonde charged in from behind and aimed a kick in the back of the former waterfall-nin's head.

Surprisingly however the Akatsuki member just bended back, making the kick go right above his face and it was only then that Naruto noticed what happened: Kakuzu's hands were still in the same place the blonde's clone forced them to stay, but they were connected to the missing-nin's arms by strange-looking, black strings.

"_What the hell is he?_" the Kyuubi vessel asked himself, shocked at the sight. His moment of hesitation was used by Kakuzu, who landed a kick into the clone's stomach, making it disappear in the cloud of white smoke and the original jumped back, slightly confused of what to do next.

Shino didn't seem to have such doubts as he charged straight at the missing-nin, with his bugs already flying all around him. Kakuzu only held out his right hand and in a flash it shoot out straight at the Leaf shinobi, hitting him hard in the stomach.

What surprised Naruto the most in this however was the fact that his companion should be able to dodge the attack with ease. Only in the next second he realized what was Shino's goal as the leaf-nin grabbed Kakuzu's hand by the black strings and made his bugs crawl by it straight at the surprised missing-nin.

"You can't escape…" stated Shino simply, holding the strings tight. "And since my bugs feed on chakra… you should be able to tell how this'll end…" and the moment he said so, his insects already reached the Akatsuki member's body and began their feast.

Having no, other way to get free, Kakuzu shoot another hand at the bug user, this time managing to grab him by the neck and send him pinned to a nearby tree. Shino let go of the missing-nin's hand due to pain and the Akatsuki member retreated it immediately to make sure more insects won't use it to crawl to him. Realizing the danger, he summoned back his other hand as well, releasing the leaf-nin's neck and once both his hands were in place, he shook off the bugs from his body.

Meanwhile Hidan got back to his feet and swung his scythe at the two chuunin once more, making Kiba jump over the blades and Hinata charge forward bellow them. As the Hyuuga heiress found herself close enough to the missing-nin, she launched another attack with an opened palm, this time aimed at the former rain-nin's heart, but the Akatsuki member managed to side-step it this time and delivered a punch in the back of the girl's head.

But as he spun around on his foot with an attempt to finish the job, Yugito appeared right before him, stabbing him with her kunai: "Eat this!" she yelled with anger in her voice as her eyes turned black for a split second.

And as Hidan took several steps back, he threw his scythe to the sky with an attempt to drop it on the female Jinchuuriki. Yet, as the blade came down, it was stopped by Kurenai, who used a throwing knife to stop the huge weapon. But even with that her left arm and cheek got slightly cut with the two, bigger blades of the scythe.

Hidan smiled at the realization as he licked the red liquid off his weapon: "My, oh my…" he began with a wicked smile. "Tough luck for you, lady… now you'll suffer the wrath of god…" and with that he used the blood dripping from the wound Yugito gave him to draw a strange circle bellow his feet.

"_What is that guy doing?_" wondered Kiba as he looked at the missing-nin and gave Akamaru a soldier pill. In a flash the dog's fur turned red as it got covered by the cloud of white smoke. As the dust disappeared, another Kiba stood right next to the original one and immediately the two used each other's hands to bounce of each other and came spinning at the Akatsuki member: "Gatsuuga!"

Only then did Hinata notice the change in their opponent: "_His chakra… suddenly it became different from before!_" and in a flash Hidan's appearance changed as well: it seemed almost as if his skin disappeared, revealing his bones only. "Kiba-kun, wait!" he called after her teammate, alas it was too late.

Both small tornadoes made a direct hit, forcing the missing-nin to take a single step back as he used his scythe, which he stuck into the ground, to remain in place. Instantly all the young shinobi heard Kurenai's yell of pain, leaving them completely confused, making the dog ninja to show an opening.

Hidan immediately used it and delivered a knee into the boy's stomach, sending him fling back a little. Them the missing-nin turned towards the genjutsu expert with a tiny smirk appearing on his face: "Hurts, doesn't it?"

"What the hell is going on?!" demanded Naruto, totally clueless. "How come when Kiba attacked that guy, Kurenai-san was the one to receive the damage?!" Yugito merely narrowed her eyes: "_It must have something to do with that stupid circle from his blood…_"

"Allow me to show you the pain that you wish to give other…" began Hidan with a serious face. "To show you what suffering means…" and with that he suddenly stabbed his right leg with a kunai, making Kurenai held back her scream as she lost her balance and fall to the ground, holding her right leg.

And at this point all the young shinobi eyes widen. "Hey, what just happened?!" demanded Kiba as he looked at his companions. Shino's eyes only narrowed behind his glasses and he observed the scythe user: "That guy must've established some sort of connection with Kurenai-sensei… it'd seem whatever happens to him, happens to Kurenai-sensei… most likely it also works the other way around…"

"So to put it simply, we can't attack him or else Kurenai-sensei will get injured…" concluded Kiba through clenched teeth. "So what should we do?" and with that he turned towards his companions.

"To answer simply…" Yugito cut in as she instantly went through a series of hand seals and with the last symbol she called out: "Genjutsu: Kuragari no Mai!" And at this point darkness began surrounding Hidan, covering him in shadows.

A second later the most horrible monsters began crawling out of the darkness, each having its eyes set on the scythe user. The closest one was a beast with purple skin that seemed more like an armor. Its fangs were huge and claws were half the size of a grown-up human. The creature narrowed it's red eyes as it lifted its hand and then brought it down at the Akatsuki member.

Hidan only made a move to lift his weapon in defense, but found his body immobilize and was incapable of even lifting the huge scythe by few inches. It was then that he looked up at the beast and felt its claws ripping his chest. Pain shoot through his entire body, yet he did not let a single sound escape his mouth.

"What did ya do?" Kiba asked Yugito as he turned to face her. The Cloud kunoichi replied almost immediately, with her face completely emotionless: "I don't really know how this whole curse works, but it's obvious your instructor and that scythe guy share each others physical pain. However genjutsu inflicts a different sort of pain onto a person. The illusionist first tricks the target's senses and then attacks his mind. Considering that pain is felt because of the nerve system, which center is located in the brain, skilled genjutsu users can make their targets suffer pain without physical contact. At this point I figure that even if I were to use the illusion on that freak, that grown-up chick wouldn't get effected…"

"Naturally…" Shino cut in with a slightly sound of impress in his voice. "By cutting that guy's skin, the curse makes Kurenai-sensei feel the pain as well, but he can't transfer the pain caused by genjutsu onto her, because the pain is only in his mind. For Kurenai-sensei to suffer it, the same illusion would have to be cast on her…"

"Well, I'm not quite sure what you guys are talking about…" admitted Naruto as he prepared himself to charge forward: "But it seems to be working. And since we bough ourselves some time, I suggest get rid of that scythe guy. I may not be a genius, but it's kinda obvious that circle has a purpose, so if we move him out of it, perhaps the curse will be lifted…"

"Let's go then!" Kiba agreed and both of them charged straight at Hidan, who seemed completely defenseless. However, before they managed to reach their target, Kakuzu appeared out of nowhere and launched a punch into Naruto.

Acting on instinct, the blonde blocked the assault by using both his hands and at that time Kiba and Akamaru (_A/N: still in Kiba's form_) once more began spinning as they came at the missing-nin. In a flash the hand that Kakuzu used to attack Naruto shoot out with strings holding it and grabbed a tree nearby. With unbelievable speed the Akatsuki member pulled himself towards the tree, thus avoiding the dog ninja's attack, and launching a double kick at the Kyuubi vessel once he was flying near him.

The loud mouth evaded the attack by simply bending over, thus making both kicks go above his head and propping his hands on the ground, he shoot his legs into the sky and launched them at the surprised missing-nin. In a flash Kakuzu extended his other hand and grabbing the blonde by the shirt with it he pushed him away, thus making the leaf-nin's assault futile.

And suddenly Kiba was behind him, launching a punch into the back of his head. Having no other way to avoid it, Kakuzu jumped forward, but his eyes widen as he realized that was exactly what the dog ninja wanted as another Kiba was charging straight at him. "Gotcha!" he yelled before starting to spin while the missing-nin was still in mid-air.

With no chance to dodge, Kakuzu only placed his hands in a block to lessen the damage while a small tornado run near the ground at him, only to start rising up once it found itself near the missing-nin. As Kiba's attack reached him, the former waterfall-nin was send high into the air with several bruises over his body.

As he was falling down to the ground, he noticed Hinata standing near the place he'd land in a fighting stance and just before Kakuzu's body hit the ground, the girl launched an incredibly fast attack, aimed at his tanketsu points.

"Jyuken po Hakke! Rokujuyonsho!" she called out as her hands became blurs: "Hakke Nisho!" and with that Kakuzu felt two hits landing on his body. "Yonsho! Hassho! Jurokusho! Sanjunisho!" and with every call the attacks were getting faster and faster. The missing-nin felt his body burning as the white-eyed girl delivered the final blow: "Rokujuyonsho!" and with that the former waterfall-nin was blown back before he even managed to hit the ground after Kiba's assault.

But surprisingly for Hyuuga heiress, as Kakuzu flew back, he held out his hands which shoot straight at her, black strings still being there. "_He can still use that technique?_" Hinata's eyes widen as she dodged to her left, thus avoiding being caught. "_But I've closed all of his tanketsu points… could this be his natural ability?_"

In a flash the missing-nin retreated his hands and once they were back in place, he used them to come to a sliding stop and launched a kick at Naruto, who was trying to get pass him and get Hidan out of the circle while Yugito still had her illusion on him. Running on top speed, the blonde didn't manage to avoid the attack and as the spin-kick connected with his face, he was send flying back. Flipping in mid-air, the Kyuubi vessel managed to land safely on his feet however.

"This guy's good…" stated the loud mouth as he set his eyes on Kakuzu, who now stood between them and Hidan. As Shino took a quick glance at Yugito, he noticed the Cloud kunoichi sweating: "I can't hold that scythe guy in the illusion much longer…" he announced through clenched teeth. Even a complete, genjutsu idiot could tell it took her all her strength to keep the former rain-nin in check.

"No time to waste then…" concluded Shino as swarms of bugs began circling around his hands. "Again with the insects?" asked Kakuzu with a little bored tone as he charged towards the bug user.

In a flash the missing-nin's hands shoot out front once more and his fingers dig into the ground right before Shino. Kakuzu then pulled himself toward at the incredible speed and aimed a double kick in the leaf-nin's stomach.

But before his feet touched the leaf-nin's body, it turned into a swarm of bugs, which began wrapping itself around him. "_Kikai Bushin?_" Kakuzu immediately recognized the technique. "_But if it was a clone, then the real body…_" and then his eyes widen at the realization.

Instantly he looked at the bugs circling near the ground and a moment later one of them got covered in the cloud of white smoke, thus revealing that it was the heir of the Aburame disguised in henge. "_This brat…_"

But at that point he noticed Naruto charging straight at Hidan, who still was unable to get free from Yugito's spell. In a fraction of a second Kakuzu stood up and with Shino's bugs still crawling around him he shoot out his left hand, grabbing the whisker-marks by the collar and tossing him at the Cloud kunoichi: "Enough of this child's play…" he announced coldly as the Kyuubi vessel was send flying at the female Jinchuuriki.

"_Once they'll collide, Yugito-san will drop the illusion…_" Hinata realized immediately as she gathered chakra into her right palm. "_No choice left… I haven't tried this before, but…_" and with that she raised her sight at Hidan. In one, quick motion, she held her hand out front, calling out: "Hakke Kuushou!"

Kakuzu then threw her a quick glance and a second later his partner acted like he just received a powerful blow in the stomach. Kurenai caught out a little blood, yet the blow was so powerful that Hidan flew out of the circle. And just in time as Naruto collided with Yugito and her illusion was cancelled.

"Nice going, Hinata…" Kiba complimented his teammate, while Kurenai slowly walked over to the two: "Indeed, a job well done… but just to make sure…" and at this point she threw a kunai straight at Hidan, who was still a little stunned by the attack.

The scythe user didn't manage to react in time and found his left cheek getting cut by a throwing knife. To all the young shinobi relief, Kurenai was not effected by that. "Looks like your curse was lifted…" stated Naruto with a smile as Kakuzu threw all of Shino's bugs of him and now stood near his partner. "We won't hold back then!"

"You little brats…" Hidan replied annoyed. "You really think that just because you managed to break my curse, your situation is any better? Even without it you're nothing to us… besides, I can still…" but he never got to finish that sentence as a sudden blur appeared out of nowhere. The mysterious figure landed right before the scythe user and swung its sword at the missing-nin at such speed that the Akatsuki member didn't manage to react in time. The Leaf shinobi stared in shock as they saw their opponent's head bounce of the ground and his body falling to the ground without a head.

Yugito on the other hand widen her eyes at the realization who was the figure that so suddenly came to the battlefield: "Kyouki?" she managed to ask, gaining the person's attention and as the swordsman turn around, Naruto notice that it was the demon hunter they meet right before entering the Hidden Cloud Village.

Kyouki froze as he saw the female Jinchuuriki. His eyes widen as well before he managed to respond: "Y… Yugito?" and at this point the loud mouth stared at the Cloud kunoichi: "_Those two know each other?_"

By the time everyone seemed to forgot about the two Akatsuki they were fighting, but only until Kakuzu spoke up, turning towards his partner's head: "I told you that you shouldn't get careless, because it might cost you your life…" and to everyone's surprise, the head shoot back: "Shut up and help me out!"

The former waterfall-nin only walked over to his partner's head and lift it up calmly by the hair. "Kakuzu, what the hell are you doing? Bring my body over here!" yelled the head annoyed, but the masked missing-nin merely replied as he placed it onto his partner's neck: "Your head's lighter…" and in a flash a black string went through Hidan's skin, working as a needle and a string.

Before anyone knew it the former rain-nin's head was back on its place and his body began moving once again. "_You gotta be kidding me…_" thought Kiba as he took few steps back. "_What are those guys?_"

"Okay, that was freaky…" stated Kyouki as he stood next to Naruto. "And I thought that nothing could beat that shark-face guy I fought in the Rain Country…" but at this point the whisker-marks turn towards him: "Why are you helping us? I thought you hated Jinchuuriki…"

"In the current situation…" replied the demon hunter calmly, aiming the tip of his sword at the two Akatsuki. "You should be happy I am helping you… the reason is a secondary thing, isn't it?" and hearing that the Kyuubi vessel only smiled slightly, yet Yugito was still suspicious about Kyouki.

"That sure hurt…" stated Hidan as he moved his head in circles slightly. "There's no way I'm letting this go… you better prepare yourselves, coz in a moment, you'll suffer the real power of my curse!"

_**---with different goals and misunderstood emotions… the battle continues---**_

And so this chapter ends. Hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully the next one will be done quicker.

And now, before I finish this, time for the jutsu encyclopedia:

_Raiton: Denryuu no Jutsu_ (Thunder Element: Electric Current Skill) – one of the classic techniques used by cloud-nins. Basically the user must first concentrate chakra in his hands and then, with the use of the right hand seals, release it in the form of electricity. That way, anything he touches, gets electrocuted.

_Tsuuga_ (Piercing Fang) – a taijutsu attack used by the Inuzuka clan. After performing beast imitation, the user gets into a spinning flight at an incredible speed. The assault makes a lot of damage. The attack itself is thought to be one of the more powerful, taijutsu techniques.

_Gatsuuga_ (Double Piercing Fang) – basically it's Tsuuga, but performed by two users (usually a dog in a human form and its master, considering this is an Inuzuka technique).

_Genjutsu: Kuragari no Mai_ (Genjutsu: Dance of Darkness) – an illusion used by Yugito. In use it's a little similar to the Shodai Hokage's Bringer of Darkness: it surrounded the target in darkness, making it impossible to see a thing. But there is an extra thing to this one, as the one who cast the jutsu also makes an illusion of the most horrible monsters he can think of and make them rip the target apart while its incapable of moving (naturally only in genjutsu).

_Hakke Rokujuyonsho_ (Sixty-four Point Hands) – jutsu used by the Hyuuga clan. Using a highly advanced form of Byakugan, the user is able to see the Chakra Holes (tanketsu points) on a person's body, and using the Gentle Fist - closes those holes with quick blows, stopping the flow of chakra through one's body.

_Kikai Bushin no Jutsu_ (Bug Clone Skill) – what can I say? It's a clone skill that's based on the Aburame's ability to control bugs. With the use of the insects and the henge, the user can create an exact copy of himself, which falls apart the moment it receives a direct hit.

_Hakke Kuushou_ – its one of the new jutsu used in manga (though there it's performed by Neji). I don't have much information about it, but basically it's a Gentle Fist attack, only this one works on a certain range. The user simply trusts his hand at the target (even located few meters away) while sending chakra into it and thus the gathered chakra gets shoot at it.

And with this the chapter really ends. But this time around I'd like to end the chapter a little bit differently then usual, by wishing you all (or more those who celebrate such holiday) a _HAPPY HALLOWEEN and GOOD HAUNTING!_

Until next time, hopefully.


	15. All Out War

**Dynamic Updatto!** Surprise! Never thought I'll be able to pull something like that off again, but here I am! Just like the previous time, I'm able to update ALL my "Naruto" fic at the same time! Also this time around it's more of a celebration! Tomorrow I'm turning 21 (boy, am I old or what) and to make it special not only for me but for you guys also, I've decided to sit down to it and wrote new chapters of all my fics. Hope you'll enjoy them!

Thanks for the reviews for last time. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, especially considering how hard Hidan's and Kakuzu's abilities are for me to use for fights. I hope you'll enjoy this one as well. As usual at this point, I'll try to answer your reviews without spoiling too much, but since most of you were interested of how this fight will end and what's the deal between Kyouki and Yugito, then I can just say that if you'll read this chapter, you'll find some answers. Also, a special note to one of the reviewers (who I wasn't able to answer until now): I'm following the manga closely and I'm aware what's going on in it. I'm aware of the event that took place in chapter 328, but whether it'll take place in my fic or not… well, I'd prefer not to reveal it, coz I hate being a spoiler. I can only say that even though at some points I'll follow the original, many events will look different and some will be made completely by me (like the current adventure in the Lighting Country).

With that said, I believe the only thing left for me to do is to get on with the 'show':

**Chapter #15: All Out War**

"Now you'll suffer the full power of my curse!" announced Hidan as he held out a small, silver cross that was tied around his neck while he walked back into the middle of the circle he made with his own blood, which now was black and mostly dry. He tighten his grip on the scythe and in an instant threw it to the sky, dropping the three blades onto the young shinobi the next second. At the same time, Kakuzu charged forward with his fists ready.

As the scythe blades were getting closer, Kiba crawled down and used both his hands and legs to bounce off the ground and went into a spinning flight, parallel to the ground, straight at the former waterfall-nin. Kakuzu only managed to came to a stop and place his hands in defense in order to minimize the damage before the two collide.

At the same time Naruto, along with other leaf-nins jumped to the side in order to avoid getting hit by the scythe, whereas Kyouki didn't move and inch and used the blunt side of his katana to block the incoming blade. As the huge scythe stopped, Yugito jumped onto it and charged on it towards Hidan.

Surprised at first, the missing-nin reached for his shuriken and threw three shinobi stars straight at the charging kunoichi, but the blonde girl only performed a quick set of hand seals, thus making electricity surrounded her and as the weapons came closer, she jumped up, spinning.

Hidan's eyes widen as he saw his shuriken, which flew bellow Yugito, suddenly changed course and began to fly as if they were making a circle around the Cloud kunoichi. As the girl landed back on the scythe, the three shinobi stars shoot straight at the former rain-nin, without the blonde even touching them. "_That little hag… she charged herself with electricity to form a magnetic field around herself… when my shuriken flew bellow her they got attracted and she could control their flight!_" and with that thought his own weapons cut his body.

In the same moment Yugito reached him and picking out her kunai, she yelled: "Eat this, asshole!" and with all her strength she threw all the knives at Hidan even though he was less then a meter away. As all the blades sunk deep into his chest, the missing-nin was send flying back and let go of his huge scythe.

But as the former rain-nin began falling back, the Cloud kunoichi noticed that his hand was still connected with the handle of his weapon. "_Chakra string!_" she realized instantly, a second too late however. With one, quick pull, Hidan brought his scythe back to his hand, making Yugito lose her balance as the thing she stood on just a second ago suddenly disappeared from bellow her feet.

Trying to save herself, the cloud-nin flipped in mid air and somehow managed to land safely on her feet, yet Hidan was already attacking: he swung his scythe from the girl's right. Considering that the huge weapon was only inches away, the kunoichi didn't manage to block it. Luckily for her the former rain-nin didn't had enough time to shorten his own weapon and so the three blades went right behind Yugito whereas the girl herself go his in the right arm by the long handle.

The impact itself made her lose her balance again and forced to take few steps to her left in order to regain it. It was then that Hidan made his move again. It a flash the blades of his scythe began retreating and thus headed straight at the kunoichi. Before the girl could react, her right arm was cut deeply by all, three blades.

"Yugito!" Kyouki only managed to call out as the kunoichi yelled in pain while collapsing to the ground. In an instant the former rain-nin licked the blood that was on his blades again and stepped into the circle. "Game over, demon…" he stated calmly as he aimed a spike at his chest. Before anyone could react, he used it to pierce his own body and instantly cough out blood. But to his surprise, the Cloud kunoichi was perfectly fine.

"Wha…?" his eyes widen as he looked at the blonde girl. It was then that a part of his circle began moving, thus revealing that it was made of Shino's bugs. The former rain-nin immediately glared at the sunglasses chuunin, who only held out his hand, welcoming his little helpers.

"When Hinata blew you out of that circle, I figured it'd be better to make sure you won't use it again…" Shino answered the unasked question calmly. "I ordered by bugs to wipe a part of it and lay in way that they'd pretend that the circle was not broken. Since the blood you used to paint it already dried and became black like my bugs, you didn't even realized that your curse had no chance of working…"

"You little…" Hidan began as he swung his scythe at the bug user, but right before his weapon reached the leaf-nin, Hinata suddenly appeared in its way and began emitting chakra from her entire body. As the three blades stopped on her chakra field, she began spinning, blowing the blades away with a call: "Hakke Shou Kaiten!"

Hidan tried to keep his weapon in his hand, which turned out to be the worst mistake he could've done: as his grip on the weapon tightened, the blades still got blown away and the huge scythe broke in half, making the weapon useless. But the former rain-nin didn't had time to be surprised as Naruto was already charging at him with an orb of blue chakra in his right hand.

"Lets see how resistant you really are!" yelled the blonde as he slammed the orb into the missing-nin's chest with a wild call: "Rasengan!" Hidan only cough out more blood before he was send flying back and crushed hard against a tree, breaking it in half and disappearing between the bushes, still spinning.

Meanwhile Kakuzu jumped back as another, small tornado smashed into the ground where he stood just a second ago, lifting up tons of dust. Before the air cleared, the second tornado came at him, hid behind the cloud of dust. Unable to dodge in time, the missing-nin made a desperate move and held out his hands with an intent to grabbed the Kiba performing the technique.

As the cyclone smashed into his hands, Kakuzu left the skin on his palms getting cut, yet he managed to withstand the pain and clenched his hands, thus grabbing the dog ninja by his shirt. Before the young Inuzuka could act, the former waterfall-nin maneuvered his hands so that one would grab the leaf-nin by the collar and the other readied to punch the young shinobi hard.

But as Kiba felt a powerful punch hitting his face and was send flying, Kyouki jumped in, aiming to chop Kakuzu's head off with his katana. The missing-nin acted immediately extending his right hand, he made some of the strings holding it to shoot at the demon hunter and wrap around his legs and hands, immobilizing him.

But as the swordsman got trapped, his body suddenly faded away, becoming black mist and in a flash he wasn't there anymore. "_Genjutsu!_" Kakuzu realized instantly and turned towards Kurenai, who appeared right behind him with her kunai ready. Acting on instinct, the former waterfall-nin bended over and propping his hands against the ground, he launched his legs back in an attempt to kick the female jounin in the face.

Kurenai however bended over as well and once her opponent's legs went over her head, she spun on her feet and attacked Kakuzu's hands, hoping to swipe them off the ground with her leg. Having no, other way to dodge the assault, the missing-nin used his hands to bounce off the ground and somersaulting over the illusionist, he landed safely on his feet behind her.

As he did so however a metal chain suddenly wrapped around him and as the former waterfall-nin looked over his shoulder, he realized that the one who trapped him with his weapon was the real Kyouki. "Get out of this…" the demon hunter only said as he tossed Kakuzu over his shoulder with all his strength, straight at Kiba and Akamaru who surprisingly was back to his normal form.

As the white-furred dog began, it sprayed the missing-nin with its piss (_A/N: much to his dismal_) and landed on the back of his owner, who was just finishing a set of hand seals: "The game is up! Soutourou!" and in a flash a huge cloud of white smoke covered the two. But immediately another figure left the cloud. But this one was nowhere near human: it was a huge, white-furred wolf with two heads.

As Kakuzu's head was getting near the ground, the huge wolf suddenly jumped forward and making the missing-nin's eyes widen, it began spinning as it came closer to him. "Garouga!" Having his arms still trapped by the chain, the former waterfall-nin extended his palms using the strings again and grabbed Kyouki, pulling himself towards the demon hunter.

"I'm taking you down with me…" stated Kakuzu calmly as he located himself right next to the swordsman. "Kiba-kun, stop!" Hinata yelled from the bottom of her lungs at realizing what was going on. The huge wolf immediately stopped spinning and came to a sliding stop merely inches before his target and the weapon master.

"That's why you're weak…" stated Kakuzu calmly. "Too afraid to make sacrifices…" but Kyouki only smiled behind his mask as his eyes narrowed: "Don't be so sure…" and with that something exploded between the two, breaking them apart and sending them flying in two, different directions.

"_He used the explosive tag to get free from my grip, even though he knew he'll receive some damage as well?_" Kakuzu concluded in his mind as he flew. "_That is to be respected…_" and as he thought that the huge wolf began spinning again, once more aiming for him and this time there was no way for the former waterfall-nin to avoid the assault.

But just before he was supposed to get hit, Hidan appeared, with a huge wound on his chest, in the huge tornado's way and took the entire impact on his left shoulder, which made the large wolf go off course slightly and miss Kakuzu. As the scythe user's left hand flew far away, the former rain-nin landed safely on the ground, making nothing off it.

"You saved me…" noticed Kakuzu calmly. "Didn't expect something like that from you…"

"Yeah, well…" began Hidan with a little happy voice. "Don't get used to that… now, would you mind fetching my arm? Those brats have become really annoying and I wish to finish this now… what do you say if we get serious?"

"Fine by me…" replied the former waterfall-nin, but just then a familiar voice rang in their head: "_Your fun will have to wait… you are to return immediately, we'll be sealing the Hachibi away…_"

"What, right now?" Hidan whined as his face shown disapproval. "Don't be like that… this will only take few, more minutes…" but the voice only respond as calm as before: "_You will return now… get the hell going…_" the two Akatsuki just exchange glances and with a sigh, the scythe user announced: "Consider yourselves lucky, coz you won't die today… but I assure you…" with that he turned towards Yugito and Naruto. "We will return… see you later, shit-heads!" and with that they both disappeared in the cloud of white smoke.

"That's the second time already…" concluded Kengo, who seemed to be watching the whole battle from a far away mountain. "First Shukaku and now the six-tails… Kyuubi surely pissed them off by now…" and with that thought a smirk crossed his face as he disappeared.

---Some time later in a nearby village---

"So, why did you came to help us?" asked Naruto suspiciously, looking up from his bowl of ramen, as all of them reached the town to take a rest after the battle. "Last I remember you hated Jinchuuriki… helping us out doesn't really seem like a demon hunter's behavior…" and with that his eyes set on Kyouki, who didn't seem to be moved by this at all.

"Lets just say that you reminded me of a certain event that took place long ago…" the weapon master replied simply as he threw a quick glance at Yugito, who sat a little further away. "Or more of a certain someone I knew a long time ago…"

"Cut the crap, dammit!" Kiba cut in, giving the swordsman an evil glare as he set his face only inches away from Kyouki's. "Tell us what the hell you're talking about and how in the world do you know Yugito-chan?!" he demanded but just then Kurenai grabbed him by the left shoulder and pulled him away from the demon hunter.

"My apologizes for my subordinates behavior…" she bowed slightly towards the silver-haired boy. "However I can't say that I'm not curious of your reasons myself… from what Shino told me, your first meeting with my students and Naruto wasn't exactly a friendly one…"

"No, it wasn't…" admitted Kyouki with a nod. He hesitated for a moment, during which he once more glanced at Yugito, before he continued: "You must understand that I'm not a fan of Jinchuuriki… when I was still very little, my parents got killed during a mission… my older sister and I grew up by ourselves… I must admit that when I learned about our parents death, I never thought we'll be able to pull through, but my sister proved me wrong… everything began to work out fine… however things happened… and she was killed by the likes of you…" at this point he turned towards Naruto. "No offense…" he added quickly.

"I'm sorry, but I still don't understand, Kyouki-san…" Hinata cut in quietly, holding her hands in front of her face. "Are you trying to say Yugito-san was the one that killed your sister?" as she asked that, the demon hunter once again glanced at the Cloud kunoichi, yet he didn't reply.

This whole time Yugito kept on looking at the wall in front of her. She said absolutely nothing. The moment Hinata asked her question, the blonde girl stared in her direction, then threw a quick look at Kyouki and soon after returned to observing the wall.

"That's what I thought…" the demon hunter finally replied, breaking the silence. And then took a quick glance at Naruto: "But you made me wonder along with that sunglasses guy…" at this he pointed at Shino. "Either way, I've decided to learn a little more about the Jinchuuriki before I'll start the hunt again… besides, I had a score to settle with the Akatsuki anyway…"

"Wait a minute, I got a bit lost…" the Kyuubi vessel cut in, slightly confused. "What do you mean that you thought Yugito killed your sister?" and at this point Kyuoki stared at the ceiling for a moment, thinking something through. After a longer moment he let out a sigh and turned towards the blonde leaf-nin again: "This is a bit more complicated then you may think… Yugito and I… well, you might say we go way back… we knew each other long before either of us became gennin… and it was all thanks to my older sister…"

"Would you mind presenting us that story?" asked Kurenai as she settled down. Kyouki only looked out the window with his eyes slightly narrowed as he replied: "It's a bit of a long story…" but then Naruto settled down before him as well: "We've got all day…"

The demon hunter only looked at him a bit surprised and then, with a tiny smile appearing behind his mask, he began: "Alright then… but it's not a really great story…" he then glanced over at Yugito again and after a short pause, he continued: "When it comes down to things… it all started around seven years ago…"

---Seven years ago in Hidden Cloud Village---

"This is so cool!" announced a nine-year-old boy with spiky, silver hair and golden eyes. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a white lotus drawn on its back and short, white pants. He also carried a katana with a golden hilt on his back.

At this time he was staring at a certain girl, who was three years older then him. The girl was a slender, young woman with long, black hair, clipped in a ponytail and had golden eyes just like the boy. He was wearing a yellow jumpsuit with wide, black stripes going down it sleeves and the same, white lotus drawn on each arm. But the thing that drew the boy's attention in her was a hitae-ate with clouds on it, that was located on her forehead.

"Hana-niisan, you really became a gennin!" the boy cheered as he began jumping up and down around the girl. The kunoichi only giggle at her brother's behavior. "Your headband looks so cool! Can I touch it? Can I? Can I?" Kyouki made big, puppy eyes to his sister.

The girl only laughed warmly as she took of her forehead protector and handed it to the boy, who immediately tied it on his forehead. "Someday I'll become a shinobi like you, niisan! And I'll become the strongest Kumo ninja ever! Maybe a Raikage even!"

"You sure have big ambitions for someone as short as you…" the girl teased him and then rubbed his hair. "Just don't scratch it, I'll have to wear it on tomorrow's mission…" and the moment she said the 'm' word, Kyouki got excited:

"You're going on a mission already?! I so envy you!" and as he said that, Hana laughed again: "Come on, we gotta do some shopping…" she announced and headed down the street with her younger brother following her.

After they bought everything Hana said she needed to prepare lunch, the two headed back to their house. However as they were passing a wide square, they saw a group of kids around Kyouki's age surrounding something and yelling from the bottom of their lungs. As they came closer slightly curious, they realized what the kids were yelling:

"Get away, demon!" yelled a boy with spiky, grey hair and green eyes.

"Yeah, crawl back to you hole!" yelled another kid, this time a girl with long, blonde hair, clipped in a ponytail. "Nobody wants you here! Get out!"

"Scram!" yelled someone else and in a flash he threw a small rock in the direction of a wall that was in front on them. As Hana followed the rock with her eyes, she noticed to who they were all yelling that: a girl with long, blonde hair, clipped in two ponytails and green eyes. She was no older then Kyouki and wore a violet jumpsuit that seemed slightly too big for her. She was embracing herself with her left hand while she protected her head with her right one. She had her right profile turned towards the crowd.

The moment Hana saw tears run down the girl's face, she placed her shopping bags down and walked forward, grabbing the boy that was about to throw another rock at the girl by his hand that held the stone. As the boy looked at her, she send him a cold glare, one that Kyouki never saw: "Stop it…" she said in an ordering tone as she looked around the kids.

As her voice sounded around the square, the blonde girl lowered her right hand slightly and stared through her eyes filled with water at the older girl. The boy Hana grabbed by the hand freed himself and looking with anger on his face at the older girl, he shoot back: "Why do you interfere? Have you no idea what that is?" and with that he pointed at the blonde girl.

Hana once more glanced at the girl who had a cut forehead, making blood run down her face. She stopped several smaller cuts and bruises on the parts of her body that were uncovered and figured she had more beneath her jumpsuit.

The boy she grabbed by the hand didn't wait for her to reply and threw the rock he held in his hand at the blonde again, but this time Hana acted immediately and grabbed the rock when it was already flying. "Beat it!" she yelled to the kids, for the first time proving that her voice can be scary as well. Kyouki has never seen his sister loose her cheerful attitude. Even when their parents died she was still smiling to him.

The young kunoichi walked over to the girl, who was still shivering and didn't even bother to wipe the blood that was all over the right side of her face. Kyouki's sister smiled warmly to the terrified blonde and holding out her hand towards the girl, she said: "I'm Haraise Hana… pleased to meet you…"

The girl only looked at the young gennin with her eyes widen. She hesitated for a long moment, but finally she grabbed the older girl's hand. Hana helped her get back on her feet and at that point the other girl spoke up: "Yugito…"

_**---shadows that covered the past clear! Kyouki continues the story!---**_

And that's that for my birthday chapter. Hope you enjoyed reading it at least as much as I writing it. The flashback continues in the next chapter, when you'll learn what happened between Kyouki and Yugito.

Before that I need to say one thing: you see, originally the Jinchuuriki from Hidden Cloud in my fic was supposed to be a guy. After Kishimoto-sama introduced Yugito in the manga I've decided to change that, which also led to some changes in the flashback. I figure it'd be better to warn you about that.

Now, before I finish this, I should place a jutsu encyclopedia, but since all the techniques used in this chapter are taken from the manga itself, I'll just give you a translation if you don't mind:

_Soutourou_ (Double-headed Wolf)

_Garouga_ (Double Wolf Fang)

And that's really it for this time. Hope you had fun reading this.

Take care and until next time, hopefully.


	16. Sealed Emotions part I

Yoh! I know it took me forever to update and sorry bout that. First I got a huge author's block on this fic and then a lot of things came down on my head (for example my grandma's condition, which gotten from bad to horrible). I must say that writing between studying, Christmas preparations and other things sure can make you dizzy.

As usual I wish to thank everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. It means a lot, so thanks and I hope you'll review this one as well. Naturally, anyone who wishes to review is free to do so.

I must say that this chapter looks slightly different then what I've imagined at the beginning (meaning when the story was appearing in my head) and I'm not that happy with how it turned out. **SPOILER WARNING:** Also, for all the manga fans who're waiting for Sai and Yamato to appear, I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you guys a bit, coz you'll have to wait a bit longer… the flashback will take a bit more space then I've first thought it would. **SPOILER END**.

I believe that's all what I had to say, so without further to do, here's the newest chapter of "Love, Demons and Bloodlines", finished only about five minutes ago:

**Chapter #16: Sealed Emotions – Yugito's Story part I**

"Well, it's a little clearer how you meet Yugito…" admitted Kiba with a slight nod. "I still don't see how this all will lead to the events you mentioned before… so far it seems you and her got along pretty good…"

"That's the problem with life…" replied Kyouki with a forced smile appearing behind his mask. "It's not as simple as we want it to be. The fact is Hana and Yugito became good friends after this… Yugito began visiting our household quite often and I grew to at least tolerate her, however, no matter what my sister said, I just couldn't find a way to trust her… in the end, shinobi is still only human, isn't he?" and with that he lowered his sight.

Naruto also lowered his head and stared at the floor. His childhood memories flashed through his mind as his eyes narrowed and filled with sorrow. Hinata noticed that and wanted to say something. Something that'd comfort the blonde, yet nothing came to her mind, so she just lowered her head as well. After a short silence, the former cloud-nin decided to continue:

"But things looked good for me back then… I managed to become top of the class, even with having very little skills in nin- and genjutsu… and I became friends with a certain girl by the name Renge… besides me, she was the only one who didn't seem to hate Yugito in our class… and then the graduation day came when we were divided into three-man teams and became gennin… now that I look at it, I'm not sure if I should feel lucky of which team I ended up in or angry…"

---Four years ago in Kumo Gakure---

Kyouki looked around the roof, but besides himself and two girls his age there was no-one on it. The boy let out a sigh and then turned to his two companions. The first one was Yugito, a girl he knew for over three years now. The other girl had medium-length, blonde hair, which was falling freely to her shoulders and sky-blue eyes. She was wearing a black t-shirt and a yellow vest on that, along with black pants. You could also notice a hitae-ate with the cloud symbol on her forehead. But the thing that drew the most attention was a small, black cat that sat on her left shoulder.

"What the hell?" yelled the boy, slightly annoyed. "This is where we're suppose to meet our jounin instructor, dammit! So where the heck is he?" and with that he began throwing his hands up and down, making Yugito only shook her head at her teammate's behavior, while the other girl just sweat dropped.

"I see you'll require a lot of work, since you couldn't even see through such a simple genjutsu…" he suddenly heard a voice and as he turned around, he notice his sister appeared right in front of him out of nowhere, almost as if she suddenly began materializing from the air. "It seems to me that Yugito-chan and Renge-san managed to notice that something was wrong from the very beginning…"

"Huh? What are you doing here, sis?"

"Isn't that obvious?" asked Hana, slightly surprised, before smiling widely. "I'm your new, jounin instructor!" and at hearing that statement Kyouki's jaw almost smashed the ground. The older girl only turned towards the other two kunoichi and waved to them. "Well, I've never expected that you three will land in one team, even less that I'll be the one who'll have to baby-sit you, but it should be fun… however first things first: I've prepared a special test for you… follow me…"

---End flashback---

"Oh man, you had to fetch the bells as well?" asked Naruto with his eyes widen, but Kyouki only looked at him slightly surprised. He then glanced at Shino, who just shook his head. With a single drop of sweat falling down his face, the former cloud-nin finally replied: "I don't know what you mean by 'fetching bells'… but that's not really the point… I don't suppose I should tell you what sort of gennin exams are taken in our village. The important thing is we managed to pass and became a cell… it turned out that we're really strong and pretty soon Raikage began giving us more demanding missions then other, gennin teams received… one of them was the one that brought the end to everything…"

---Four years ago---

"Why is that note so important again?" Kyouki asked out loud with his hands behind his head as he and his teammates walked down the road. Yugito merely glanced at the masked boy, yet said nothing. Hana let out a sigh while shaking her head. The one to answer the weapon master's question was Renge: "I told you already that this is a special scroll that we're suppose to bring to the Mizukage! It's of high importance to our village…"

"Yeah, but what's with this whole B-rank?" Kyouki shoot back. "It's basically just a four-day walk… it's not like we'll be attacked or anything…" and just the moment he said so, he jumped back in order to avoid a kunai that came right at him and sunk deep into the ground where he stood just a second ago: "The story of my life…" he complained as he glanced up at the nearby rock.

There, on top of it, stood a man with long, black hair, made into dreadlocks. His eyes were bloody red and he was wearing a black t-shirt with a red vest on that and baggy, black pants. To his back there were attached three, Fuuma Shuriken and Yugito also noticed a hitae-ate with the slashed sunglass symbol wrapped around his left arm: "A missing-nin…" she announced simply as her eyes set on the man.

"A team of girls…" whined the man as he shook his head slightly. "And there I was, hoping for a challenge on this task…" but the moment he said so, Renge appeared right in front of him and slashed her hand at him. The missing-nin instantly jumped back, realizing that slashes appeared on the rock where he just stood. It was only then did he noticed that the kunoichi's nails grew longer and more sharper, resembling claws more then nails.

"A Nekobishi, eh?" the man asked with a smirk as he glanced at Renge, who stood few meters before him on the same rock. A moment later, her black cat jumped back onto her left shoulder, but the girl didn't even made anything of it. She had her eyes set on her opponent and didn't took them of him for a second. "The only clan which position in Kumo is equal to the Inuzuka in Konoha… maybe this day won't be a total lost after all…"

Without a word Renge feed her cat with a soldier pill and as the black fur-ball 'meowed' loudly, a cloud of white smoke covered both it and the kunoichi. The man only smirked under his nose as the smoke cleared, thus revealing two blonde girls standing before him, each a mirror image of the other.

"Lets go, Kuroko!" yelled the Renge on the right as both kunoichi went through a series of the same hand seals. The man felt chakra gathering in their hands and narrowed his eyes as the girls' arms got surrounded with a thin, chakra field: "Tora Tsume!" the two cried out as they charged straight at their opponent.

The man immediately jumped back as the first Renge suddenly appeared before him and launched an attack with an opened palm, only with a little bended fingers, at the place where he stood. At the missing-nin avoided the assault, the kunoichi's palm hit the rock, making it break into tens of pieces in a fraction of a second.

"_So this is the famous technique of the Nekobishi, eh?_" the man thought to himself with a smirk as he reached for his Fuuma Shuriken. "_Most interesting indeed…_" and with that he bite his finger while the other Renge was already flying towards him.

In a flash he wrote something on his shuriken's blade with his own blood and to the blonde girl's surprise strange, red markings suddenly began glowing on the huge weapon. As the kunoichi throw another attack with an opened palm at the man, he simply blocked the assault with his Fuuma Shuriken, making the cloud-nin's eyes widen at the fact that the weapon didn't go to pieces.

"Abra cadarba, you little witch…" the man shoot with a smirk as he swung the shuriken at the girl and cut her torso. Luckily for the kunoichi the cut wasn't too deep, which was probably thanks to the fact that when her attack connected, yet didn't break the weapon, the girl used the hand with which she attacked to bounced off, thus increasing the distance between her and the missing-nin.

"Renge-chan!" Kyouki only managed to yell as he charged forward and captured the kunoichi in his arms before she hit the ground hard. Meanwhile the missing-nin landed safely few meters away on another rock, only to realize Hana was already behind him, biting her thumb. With a quick motion she drew a single symbol on the scroll she unwrapped, making a small cloud of white smoke appear. As the air cleared, she was holding a long spear with a huge blade in her hand and used it to pierce through the man's chest.

The missing-nin however only spun the shuriken in his hand and used the spinning blades to deflect the Cloud kunoichi's weapon, throwing it off course. With a smirk on his face he charged forward at the defenseless female jounin, who couldn't use her weapon at that moment, with an intention to cut her open by using the Fuuma Shuriken that was still spinning in his hand.

As the huge shinobi star cut the girl's body in half, the man's eyes widen as the kunoichi only seemed to fade away in the air. "_A bushin!_" he realized instantly. "_But then where's the real body?_" and as on queue the large spear got covered with another cloud of white smoke, revealing that it was the real Hana, who held a kunai ready in her hand. "_That b…_" was the only thing the man managed to think before the female jounin swung her knife at his face.

The missing-nin reacted immediately and only thanks to that did the whole assault ended with him receiving just a small cut on his left cheek in stead of getting his head chop off. As he jumped away from Hana, he tossed his huge shuriken at his opponent.

Hana however simply jumped over the incoming shinobi star and picked out more kunai. But as the shuriken flew bellow her, the missing-nin performed a quick hand seal and in a flash he switched places with the weapon he just tossed.

"_Kawarimi!_" Hana cursed in her mind and she turned in mid-air with an attempt to deliver a spin-kick into her adversary, yet the man managed to block the attack with his right hand and launched an assault with an opened palm at his opponent with the other, hitting her hard in the chin.

"Damn it!" Kyouki cursed after placing Renge softly on the ground as he pulled out his chain and threw the sharp end of it straight at the missing-nin. The man acted immediately and flipping in mid-air, he grabbed the incoming chain right behind the blade, stopping its flight. As he kept on falling, the missing-nin suddenly started spinning, thus making the cloud-nin's chain wrap around his body.

Kyouki felt his weapon trying to fly out of his hand. The boy tightened his grip on the chain and managed to keep it in his hand, yet just then his feet left the ground as he was pulled straight at the missing-nin, who was still spinning as he was getting closer to the ground. The moment the masked boy found himself near the man, his opponent launched a kick into the Kumo shinobi's stomach and once the attack connected, the young gennin was send flying several meters away and came to a stop after rolling on the ground for a bit.

In a flash the missing-nin unwrapped the chain that surrounded his body and now held it in his hand as his own. A wide smirk appeared on his face as Kyouki narrowed his eyes while setting them onto his opponent. A second later the boy's older sister appeared next to him with her spear in her hand. She pointed the tip of the blade at the missing-nin with her face colder then the masked boy has ever seen it.

"You're really a troublesome opponent…" stated Hana calmly, without moving an inch. "Akumo, a special jounin from the Hidden Sand that became a missing-nin after his failed attempt to kill the Kazekage… I must admit that you certainly earned your reputation…"

The man only widen his smirk at her words: "Oh, so you heard about me? Don't know if I should feel flattered, but I don't suppose it matters in any way… I still have to kill, so…" and at this point he jumped forward, unleashing the chain he collected for his adversary. Hana instinctually bended over, thus making the attack go above her, yet Kyouki didn't turn out to be fast enough and got his right arm cut by the blade at the end of his own weapon.

"Kyouki!" the kunoichi yelled with concern as she glanced at her brother for a split second, yet that turned out to be enough for Akumo as he already found himself near her and swung the blade on the chain like it was a sword in the attempt to pierce right through the young woman. However this time Hana was fast to react as well and by sticking the blade of her spear into the ground behind her, she used her own weapon to bounce off the ground and delivered a powerful kick into the missing-nin's face, thus forcing him to take few steps back.

Without wasting a second, she pulled out her weapon from the ground and charged forward, swinging her spear in hope to cut her opponent in two, yet Akumo was ready for that. In a fraction of a second he threw the chain at the incoming spear and as the two weapons collide with each other, the chain began wrapping itself around the spear.

Before Hana managed to react, the former sand-nin grabbed the other end of his chain and having both his hands on Kyouki's weapon again, he tossed it way, making the female jounin's spear, which was wrapped by it, flew out of the Kumo shinobi's hand as well (_A/N: sorry if you lost track of what's going on, but no matter how hard I tried, I just didn't seem to be able to write this part better_).

With no weapon in her hands, Hana acted immediately and placing her hands on the ground, she performed a Belgian Helicopter, aiming to kick Akumo hard in the face. The missing-nin however managed to crouch down in time and spinning on his foot, he launched an attack with his other leg at the Cloud kunoichi's hands in order to throw her off balance.

As Hana's feet flew right above Akumo's head, the former sand-nin's attack connected and the female jounin landed on the ground with her back facing the surface. In a flash the man picked out several kunai with an intension to use them to pierce the woman's body, yet he stopped right before tossing the knives as a strange sensation hit him.

"_What the…?_" he began as he felt sweet falling down his face. "_This killer intend… where's that coming from?_" and in a flash he glanced to his left where Yugito stood. The man noticed that the kunoichi was holding her head in her hands while her body began trembling. He took a single step back, overwhelmed by the feeling: "_That brat… what the hell's going on?!_"

Kyouki also stared at his teammate, unable to make a single move: "_Is that… Yugito?_" was the only thought that came to his mind as he couldn't take his eyes off the kunoichi, almost as if he was charmed. And then the blonde girl suddenly lifted her head up, thus revealing a pair of completely dark eyes. The future demon hunter only 'gulped' loudly as his body froze stiff.

In a flash Yugito jumped forward, straight at Akumo, pushing her hands out front. It was only then that Kyouki noticed her nails turned into claws. As his teammate reached its 'prey', the girl let out a wild roar, that didn't sounded anywhere near human. That very sound made the blood in his body stop for a split second and his heart to beat faster, like it wanted to jump out of his chest and run away.

Akumo instantly jumped back as Yugito slashed at him, but even though the former sand-nin managed to avoid getting cut by the claws, a sudden charge of electricity shoot from the kunoichi's body and hit him hard in the stomach, making him let out a quiet 'ugh' before extending his flight. The missing-nin then came to a sliding stop and glanced up at the girl, whose body was now completely surrounded with electricity, shooting sparkles here and there. The pair of black eyes shoot small charges of electricity as well which traveled from her pupils to the back of her head.

With another roar, Yugito charged forward at Akumo with an intension to pierce through his chest by using her claws. Her speed seemed to increase and thus the missing-nin didn't manage to react in time to dodge the attack completely. He jumped to his right, thus avoiding a fatal wound, yet still his left shoulder got cut by the kunoichi's claws.

Akumo grabbed his wounded shoulder, only to realize that it was charged with electricity: "_By just touching, she managed to do that?_" his eyes widen in surprise as he glanced at Yugito, who was already charging at him yet again. "_Who… what the hell is she?_" and with that thought he jumped away onto a nearby rock. "_That hag… I can't outmatch her… seems I'll have to retreat for now…_" and so he performed a quick seal, disappearing in thin air.

"Hey, where the hell did he go?" demanded Kyouki as he looked around the area, but couldn't spot the missing-nin. Hana only let a sigh as her brother helped her up: "Probably he used Shunshin… at least that's what I can tell from the seal he performed… and if I'm correct, he's nowhere near here at the moment…" and with that she glanced at Yugito, who now collapsed to her knees, whose body was trembling. "Kyouki, help Renge-san… I'll see if Yugito's okay…" the boy only nodded and the ran towards the cat girl, who was still laying on the ground where he left her.

"Renge-chan, are you okay?" he asked the moment she got near her while he helped her sit up. The Nekobishi heiress glanced at her teammate and managed a weak smile before replying in a quiet voice: "As okay as someone with his torso cut can be…" and at those words she made a motion like she was about to collapse again, yet the masked boy held her tight.

"Don't worry, that bastard's gonna already…" Kyouki announced with worry showing in his eyes as he looked at the kunoichi's face. The girl smiled again and placed her hand on his cheek: "I wouldn't worry either way… coz I'm sure you'd protect me, just like now when I was falling… wouldn't you, Kyouki-kun?" and as she said so, a small blush appeared on the boy's face, which was mostly hidden behind his mask.

Meanwhile Hana reached Yugito and placed her hand on the young kunoichi's shoulder, making the Jinchuuriki raise her sight. The female jounin smiled to her subordinate, which seemed to calm the demon vessel a bit. Her body stopped shaking, yet for some reason, tears gathered in her eyes. The Haraise heiress didn't say anything and so the young gennin sobbed and was the first to break the silence: "Hana-sensei, I… just now… I didn't… I'm sorry…"

"I know…" the jounin stopped her calmly, still not showing any anger nor fear. "I know… you were only trying to protect us… the one who should apologize is me… I'm suppose to guard you guys. And you were the one who saved us… you did a great job, Yugito-san…" and with that her smile widen. "However you should use your… gift… carefully. I respect what you just did, but remember that demon chakra isn't something to take lightly… now come on, I need to see if using Raijuu didn't caused any damage to your body…" and with that she helped the young girl up, but the blonde still seemed worried.

"Hana-san…" she began, her voice shaking slightly. "This time… it was different then before… I used Raijuu's chakra before, but this time it wasn't the same… it was almost as if I could touch it… I felt his anger… his hatred… for the first time I felt that it wasn't me who was using him, but the other way around… I fear…" and at those words her voice froze for a second. She swallowed her saliva loudly before she managed to continue: "I fear that next time… I won't manage to maintain any control over him…"

"Well then, we'll just do our best to not let him run lose again…" announced Hana, still smiling warmly, and this time it managed to relaxed Yugito. The two girls walked slowly towards their teammates, yet little they didn't know, Kyouki kept his eyes set onto the young Jinchuuriki.

---Flashback ends---

"_So this is what happens when Jinchuuriki goes out of control?_ Hinata wondered as she looked with a worried expression on her face at Yugito and then, for a split second, glanced over at Naruto, before lowering her head. Kurenai noticed that and a worried expression appeared on her face as well, yet she decided to say nothing to her subordinate. In stead she set her eyes onto the demon hunter: "So, Kyouki-san, I was wondering: it seemed more like Yugito-san saved your life back then… then why your aversion towards her?"

"As I said, it's a bit more complicated then it may seem…" the masked boy replied, staring at the floor. "I know I should be grateful for that time, but… it's just that when I saw her face when Raijuu taken over… it was one sight that I'll never be able to describe with words… when I was that empty pair of eyes, I felt all: sorrow, hatred and fear… almost as if those black pupils dig out the worst emotions from the bottom of my heart and made them come to the surface… I felt terrified of Yugito back then…" and with that he glanced over to the young kunoichi, who still sat a little further away, not moving an inch.

"And have you ever considered what she must've felt when the demon taken over?" Naruto asked him, without even looking at the former cloud-nin. At hearing that the Kumo kunoichi glanced at the other blonde, slightly surprised, yet she said nothing. "I'm not accusing you, because you can't imagine what it's like… nor would I wish you to… but I've experience it too… the darkness that fills your heart… you can feel the rage taken over you… and even though you can still see everything, you cannot control your own body… you can only watch as the beast does whatever it pleases with your own hands… it's even worse then being a puppet…"

"In a way we're all just puppets…" Kyouki replied calmly. "But I think I at least understand your point… however, no matter how much we'd want, we can't change the past… and I would really want to change it… after the fight with Akumo, we set up camp in order to rest, hoping that some of our wounds will get better… but our troubles… were only beginning…"

_**---dark clouds gather… Kyouki's story continue---**_

And this concludes this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it and that you'll leave me a review once you're done reading. It'd mean a lot.

And now I just wanted to say one, final thing before I got: MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all! Hope your holidays will be a blast! Take care and until next time!


	17. Sealed Emotions part II

It's me again! I'm terribly sorry it took me so freaking long to update! Collage has been awful for me during the last, two months and I really didn't had as much time as I'd want. And the fact that I got some stupid, author's block on this fic certainly didn't help (plus the popularity my original stories are getting on FictionPress). But finally I've managed to write it. It looks slightly different from what I've planned at first, but I'm actually quite found of it.

Basically, I've shortened the whole battle scene. In the previous version, the flashback was going to last another chapter, but considering how long I made you wait, I basically just left the essence of the flashback and squeezed it into this chapter. Those of you who enjoy my fighting scenes might be disappointed, but I assure you that later on there will be plenty of fighting.

As usual thanks to everyone who reviewed. It really means a lot.

And now, so that you won't have to wait any longer, here's the newest chapter of "Love, Demons and Bloodlines":

**Chapter #17: Sealed Emotions – Yugito's Story part II**

"Well, Akumo, your performance was pretty pathetic" came a deep voice from the bushes. The former sand-nin only threw a glare in the direction it came from and then got back to healing his left shoulder with his medical jutsu. As he did that, another man with the slashed, hitae-ate with the sunglass on his forehead walked out of the bushes. He had spiky, black hair, yellow eyes and his skin was mostly tan. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a white cover and baggy, white pants. Both his arms were wrapped in bandages. "That blonde girl sure messed you up good…"

"What do you want Hiromu?" the other man asked annoyed, without paying much attention to the newcomer. The brown-skinned man only smirked at this and then replied with a little playful voice: "I just thought I'll drop by to see how you're doing… besides, there's always that bet we made: you said that if you'll manage to kill the messengers that carry the note for Mizukage…"

"Yeah, I remember" Akumo interrupted him, even more annoyed then before. "So I got taken by surprise, big deal. How was I suppose to know that hag was some sort of a monster…" but at this point Hiromu's smirk only widen: "Not exactly a monster… a Jinchuuriki. Just like Kazekage's brat. Defeating her won't be as simple as you first assumed…"

"Regardless, she will die" the other man assured calmly. "Just when my shoulder heals…"

"Well then, I hope you won't mind I tag along" Hiromu more announced then asked. "I would really like to know what's so great about those tail demons and this is actually the opportunity to find out… that blonde girl became very interesting for me indeed…"

---That time, elsewhere---

Hana walked out of the tent and joined Kyouki, who was sitting on a log at the edge of the forest. He glanced over at the elder shinobi and the moment their eyes met, he asked: "Is Renge-chan all right?"

The jounin only stared at him surprised for a moment and then replied with a wide smile, joining him on the log: "She'll be just fine. She just needs some rest. I've managed to seal her wound, so her life is no danger. Right now I'm more worried about Yugito… where is she anyway? In this situation the last we should do is separate. That Akumo guy is still out there and most likely that wasn't the last time we met him…"

"She ran off to somewhere, I have no idea where" Kyouki replied, turning away. Instantly silence felt between the two, broken by the boy, who began hesitantly: "Back then… when we were attacked by that missing-nin… what happened to Yugito?"

Hana hesitated herself before answering. She looked deep into her brother's eyes before deciding to give him a response: "Do you know the story of the time when a six-tailed beast Raijuu attacked our village?" she asked and after receiving a nod from the boy, she continued: "Well, the Raikage fought the demon, however the best was hard to kill. Seeing no chance in slain it, he decided to seal it, so that the beast shouldn't do any more damage then it already had. He managed to trap it inside a scroll. I'm sure the taught you about that in the Academy… either way, it soon turned out that the seal on the scroll will not be enough to keep Raijuu in prison and so the elders of the village made another decision: they've decided to us a better container with a more powerful soul…"

"By that you mean…?" Kyouki began as his sister only nodded: "It's just as you picture it: Yugito-san was chosen to be the new container for Raijuu…"

"But… but that's insane!" the boy yelled loudly, completely forgetting about remaining hidden. "From what occurred today anyone can easily tell that the seal isn't working! And what's more, Yugito presents danger to those around her! You saw what she did! You felt the same thing I did! If she loses control, she'll kill us as well! She's a monster…" but at this point he received a powerful slap in the face.

He looked with total surprise at his sister, who only stood there, still in the position after hitting him, with a slightly angry expression on her face: "She didn't choose this… she was forced to do it… by saying that she's a monster you are no better then one as well…" at this point Kyouki only lowered his head. Hana let out a loud sigh and then placed her hand on the boy's hand: "Jinchuuriki is still human, Kyouki… they still feel, whether you accept it or not. It's true they're not like others. But they're just different… not better or worse then you or me… only if you'll refuse to give them even this much, they'll become true monsters…" and with that she glanced at the moon: "Lets go find her. We'll meet back here in thirty minutes no matter what!" and with that she disappeared.

---A little later---

Yugito threw another rock into the pond and watched it bounce off the water surface several times before sinking to the bottom. She didn't even paid any attention to Kyouki who walked over to her and settled next to her on the big stone. "Found ya" he announced, but the girl still didn't seem to even realize he was there.

The boy observed her for a short while as she threw another rock into the pond and seeing that she wasn't willing to talk, he decided to speak up first: "You know, I still didn't manage to thank you… you know, for that time you beat the crap out of that Akumo guy and all…"

"It wasn't me" she replied simply, throwing another rock. "It was Raijuu…"

Kyouki hesitated for a moment, lowering his head in the process. He picked up a rock of his own. He looked at it and then replied: "It may have been it who did it… but he only did it, because you wanted him to" and at this point he also threw the rock into the pond. For the first time Yugito glanced at him as he turn his head towards her and looked deep into her eyes.

"It's true that the demon sealed inside you is evil" the boy announced with a serious face without looking away. "But you've putted it into a good use. That's what counts. It's true that I was scared of it at first, but my sis helped me understand it a bit better. So: thanks for saving us back then!"

"That's rare" she announced, lowering her head. "It's the first time I actually hear a word of gratitude directed towards me…" and it was at that time that the boy placed his hand on her shoulder, making her once more look at him: "It's probably because people of our village are blind… they don't realize how much you did for them, just like I used to. They refused to accept it. But now I understand things better and I know that I owe you a lot. And I can promise you, that no matter what happens, I won't ignore it anymore!" and for the first time ever, Kyouki saw her smile.

"I'll hold you to it" she stated, smiling warmly. The boy's face also brightened as he struggled back to his feet, saying: "We should get back. I'm suppose to get back to the camp in thirty minutes and those are almost up. C'mon or we'll miss free dinner" he joked and so the two headed back to the tent.

---The next morning---

Renge stretched herself smiling as the sunrays hit her face. She glanced over her shoulder at Yugito, who also left the tent and yawned widely with her eyes still sleepy. Kyouki was already up and stood propped with his back against a nearby tree. The cat ninja winked to the boy playfully, making him blush deeply and look away. Some time passed and Hana returned from her scout.

"The route before us seems to be clear, but don't get too confident" the young jounin warned her subordinates with a serious face. "That Akumo guy is still alive and most likely he won't let us pass just like that, so keep your eyes open" all the gennin nodded and soon the team was back on the road.

Most of their journey went by peacefully, almost like a premonition that the worst was yet to happen. As the sun slowly began going down the horizon, they entered another forest road. The trees created a great shelter from the last sunrays, making darkness wrap around them. This whole time Renge and Kyouki kept on talking with each other, laughing from time to time. Hana only smiled at that, but having the responsibility to keep her guard up, didn't paid that much attention to that.

Finally night fell and the female jounin decided they should set up camp. Renge and Yugito were suppose to prepare a shelter, while Kyouki was suppose to catch something to eat. Hana went to scout the surroundings to make sure the missing-nin from the other day wasn't around. That proven to be a mistake.

Yugito heard some coming from the bushes and instantly readied her kunai, with Renge going into her fighting position while Kuroko settled on her shoulder with its fur raised. But it wasn't Hana nor Kyouki that came out. It wasn't even Akumo.

"Hello, little girls" Hiromu greeted them with a wide smirk appearing on his face as he bowed slightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Hiromu, once from Suna, and I'm afraid that I have to kill you…" but neither of the kunoichi allowed him to finish as they both jumped straight at him, ready to attack.

Yugito tossed her knives at him from the man's right, forcing him to dodge by moving forward, where Renge was already waiting for him. As Kuroko changed into its master again, the two cat-nins charged towards their opponent with their hands surrounded by chakra once more. As the two slashed, ripping Hiromu's body to pieces, it suddenly changed into dirt and felt to the ground, lifting up a little dust.

"Kawarimi?" Yugito asked surprised, but Renge only shook her head in disagreement: "I highly doubt that. It seemed more like some sort of bushin. The one that is capable of taking damage. This guy is certainly not some low-level shinobi. We gotta watch out…"

Meanwhile Kyouki finished his task and lifting two, dead rabbits by their ears, he looked them over. "I sure hope you guys will do" he said to himself as his good mood returned, only to disappear a second later as a sudden, cutting sound reached his ears.

Acting on instinct, he rolled on the ground, dropping the dead animals, and only thanks to that did he avoid a huge Fuuma Shuriken that few right above him. In a flash he got back to his feet, picking out his katana. "_That shinobi star_" he thought to himself, narrowing his eyes. "_It's that Akumo bastard!_" and like on queue, in that very moment, the missing-nin walked out of the bushes, spinning his huge shuriken on his hand.

"How're you doing, brat?" the man asked with a wide smirk appearing on his face. "Miss me?" but Kyouki didn't reply and in stead he charged straight at the former sand-nin with his sword ready. However his attack was easily blocked by the man's shuriken and the boy didn't even managed to react as his opponent landed a powerful spin kick into his chest, making him gasp for air.

"You seem to be slightly confused, my friend" Akumo announced, still smiling. "Last time you managed to survive, because you had that jounin chick and the Jinchuuriki to protect you. And now you're all alone. Oh, and don't count on the babes to come and save you, coz my partner is taking them down as we speak…"

"You bastard!" the masked boy yelled as he charged again, aiming to cut the man in half, yet the missing-nin simply jumped into the air and to his left, flying above the blade while he somersaulted, and cut from above, making his shuriken leave a deep wound on Kyouki's right shoulder. The weapon master instantly took few steps back and grabbed his wound as blood began escaping his body.

His breath became faster as he glared at his opponent. He never even realized that he let go of his katana the moment he received the hit. Refusing to give up, he picked out his chain with the scythe-like blade at the end and began swinging it around. Akumo only smirked again at the sight.

Kyouki reached for his hostel and picked out a kunai. His eyes narrowed again as he suddenly threw his chain at his opponent, yet the missing-nin easily dodged the assault by jumping to his right. What Akumo failed to realize however was the fact that the scythe blade of the boy's weapon sunk deep into a tree and the young cloud-nin used that to shoot himself at his adversary, using the chain to swing himself forward.

Having not enough time to dodge by jumping aside, Akumo leaned forward, making Kyouki fly right above his head. "_That brat_" he cursed in his mind annoyed as he spun around. "_He wasn't aiming at me. Oh well, never mind. By the time he'll swing himself to that tree, he'll be dead!_" and with that thought the stopped, preparing to lunch his shuriken at the boy, who was still flying towards the tree, grabbed tight to his chain.

But before the missing-nin could unleash his weapon at the young gennin, the chain suddenly exploded right above the boy's hands, thus breaking his flight. In a flash Kyouki flipped in mid-air and facing Akumo he threw the kunai he held in his hand at the man. Completely surprised at all of this, the shuriken user didn't manage to react in time and had the knife sunk deep into his wound.

"_That little shit! So he actually looked so far ahead as to see that I'll not only avoid his chain but also his swinging attack! That time, when he reached for the kunai, he had an explosive tag ready and just attached to the chain so that it'd explode, breaking his flight and giving him a clear shoot when I'd be unprepared!_" the former sand-nin analyzed in his mind with his eyes widen. "_Dammit, this guy…_"

Kyouki didn't wait for his opponent to get back to his senses. He instantly reached for more kunai and tossed them at Akumo in hope to finish the battle, yet the older shinobi managed to deflect all the knives by using his huge shuriken. He send the boy a dead glare and with a loud yell, he charged forward: "You did good, brat, but this ends here!"

But before he managed to reach the masked boy, a mysterious figure appeared in his way and with a quick technique, knocked him out with electricity. Kyouki looked surprised at the man, who now slowly turned around, thus revealing he had spiky, grey hair, light blue eyes and a face with several scars, with one going across his left eye. But the thing that made the masked boy let out a sigh of relief was the headband with the Kumo symbol on the man's forehead.

The man took a quick glance at the boy and with concern in his voice, he asked the boy if he was alright. Kyouki only nodded, too shocked to speak, but the instant he did so, the new comer's head shoot up with a little frightened look of his face. He grabbed the young gennin by the hand and with a simple 'we need to go' he dragged him into the forest.

In a flash they reached the place Kyouki's team set out camp, however from the sight that appeared before the masked boy's eyes, they came much too late: there, on the ground, laid a man he never saw before, with small slashes all over his body and with a big hole in his stomach. Just that made the young gennin almost threw up, but the worst was still to come.

A little further, propped with her back against a tree, sat a motionless body of his older sister in a similar state that the first body was. And a bit further away crawled Yugito right over another body, which also was full of wounds. That one Kyouki recognized instantly; it was Renge.

The Jinchuuriki glanced back at the new arrivals, thus revealing her black eyes and fangs in her mouth, from which saliva dripped. Her nails became claws once again, while her body was shaking. The man only narrowed his eyes at the sight as he reached for his pocket: "_I came too late_" he cursed himself as the Raijuu vessel suddenly jumped right at them, extending her chakra hand.

With one, smooth move, the cloud-nin charged forward, barely dodging the Jinchuuriki assault, yet still received a cut on his left cheek. As electricity shoot from his new wound, he kept on running at the girl and placed a tag with a strange symbol right on her forehead. The instant he did so, the kunoichi let out an ear-piercing yell, like she was suddenly ripped apart, and collapsed to her knees. The chakra sphere that was surrounding her until now began fading away.

The man didn't pay a lot of attention to it. In stead he went over to the older kunoichi that laid under the nearby tree and checked her pulse. He only lowered his head at realizing that what he feared came true: the girl was no longer among the living. He then glanced over to the other girl, next to which Kyouki was already kneeling. The boy also lowered his head in the gesture of powerlessness as tears slowly gathered in his eyes. Seeing this, the older shinobi only looked away.

He then got back to the Raijuu vessel, who've seemed to calm down finally. She was kneeling on the ground as she hid her face behind her hands. The man heard a sobbing sound, that was a sign she was crying. He placed his hand on her shoulder, but she didn't react. In the meantime Kyouki walked over to the two with the motionless Renge on his arms.

It was only then that Yugito raised her sight and settled her eyes on him. With water still going down her cheeks, she struggled back to her feet and hesitantly held her hand out front: "Kyouki, I…" she began with a shaking voice, trying to touch her female's cheek, but the boy took a step back, placing the dead kunoichi out of her reach. "I didn't mean to…"

Without a word the masked boy settled the cat ninja's body next to his sister and stood back up, looking at his only, living teammate with a look that she has never seen before. It was exactly anger nor was it sadness. It was something in between… along with something else.

"Kyouki, I really didn't…" she began again, incapable of stopping the waterfalls of tears that kept on going down her face. She this time reached for the boy, but he stopped her hand halfway. "I'm really sorry… I just… I lost…"

"You haven't lost a thing" he replied, trying his best to hold back his emotions. "The one at loss here… is me" he announced, looking at the ground so to not let the kunoichi see his face. "To think that I've allowed myself to get blinded twice… first with the impression I had of you… and then, when I actually believed that impression was wrong…"

"Kyouki…"

"I was wrong all the way" he continued, still refusing to rise his head. "In the end, you are a monster. There's no, other way to describe it. Even considering what I said the other night, you still did all this" and at this point he raised his head, revealing anger that suddenly stuck to his face. "Nobody was wrong about you! You're different! You're a freak! And I hate you!" and with that he disappeared into the forest.

"Kyouki!" Yugito called after his with a broken voice as she made an attempt to go after the boy, but got stopped by the man's hand that once more landed on her shoulder. She looked at him surprise, only to see him shake his head in disagreement. The kunoichi lowered hers, making the tears keep on falling on the ground. Once more, she was alone.

---Flashback end---

"So this is what happened" Kurenai concluded as Kiba stood there, completely shocked. Hinata covered her mouth as she felt tears gathering in her eyes as well, while Naruto had his head lowered. The only one who seemed to be unmoved by it all was Shino, as usual. "And that man…"

"He's the current Raikage" Yugito announced as she slowly stood up and exited the room. Kiba glanced after her and then turned towards Kyouki, who had his head lowered, just like the Kyuubi vessel. He stared at the masked boy for a short moment, and then finally, decided to break the silence: "So this is why you hunt Jinchuuriki? Because Yugito-san lost control?"

"Jinchuuriki cannot control themselves" the former cloud-nin replied a little painfully. "Even if they're doing something in the best interest, they can still end up hurting their comrades… they can run amok… well, that is how I felt…"

"And have you ever considered" Naruto cut in, gaining the boy's attention. "How Yugito felt back then?" and with that question, he exited the room as well. Kyouki only managed a forced smile behind his masked as he once more looked at the floor.

"Indeed, that I haven't considered" he said quietly, but still everyone heard him.

_**---secrets are revealing! Coming up: the conclusion of the Lighting Country mission!---**_

And so this chapter ends. As I wrote above, next time the Lighting Country mission will end and some mysterious characters will come into an act. Time to settle things with Orochimaru is drawing near. The real battle is only beginning.

I'll also do my best to update much sooner this time. Hopefully I'll manage.

Thanks for reading and hope you'll leave me a review once you're done.

Take care and until next time, hopefully!


	18. Leaving Things Behind

I finally made it! Sorry it took me even longer to update this time! Considering this is my favorite out of all my "Naruto" fics (not just because of its popularity), it annoys me that it's also the one I tend to get most author's blocks on it. Or maybe I'm just not as good as I'd want to be when it comes to describing emotions with words?

Either way I finally finished this chappie (literally ten minutes ago) and so I'm submitting, hoping that you'll forgive my slow paste. I'm not gonna say that I hope the next chapter will be done faster, coz I said it the last time and… well, you know the result of that. However the next chapter is already around one-third done, so have hope.

As always I wanna thank everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. It means a lot and I do hope that you'll let me know what you think of this one as well. Naturally new reviewers are welcomed. Also I have a favor to ask you guys:

**IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ:** this is actually a question I'm directing towards you guys in hope to make this story more enjoyable for you then you find it. Now the question basically concerns the events that occurred so far and a bit of those that are going to take place (in a way that is why I'd like to ask everyone to give their opinion): I'd like to know what you think of the story so far as well as a question about the near future. As you probably noticed (I heard that the anime returned to following the manga, so anime fans probably realized that too) this story does include events from the manga (with my twists in it) like the Suna mission or going to the Grass Country. However the Lighting Country mission was totally my idea. And my question for you is this: do you prefer that I'd just follow the manga, skipping events like the Lighting Country mission in the future (after Grass arc I have one planned, but to not spoil I won't say anything) or do you not mind those and would like to find out what bonus adventures await Naruto and Hinata? (those that want to find out what the bonus arc after Grass Country would be about, I can tell, but only through review reply or PM).

With that said, I believe the only thing left to do is to get on with the story:

**Chapter #18: Leaving Things Behind**

Yugito reached a nearby lake and stared at the sun deflecting in it for a moment. Her eyes narrowed slightly, while she lowered her head as a recollection of a certain event appeared in her mind. She picked up a stone and threw it at the water, making the small rock bounce off its surface few times before disappearing in the depths of the crystal blue liquid.

The kunoichi settled her eyes on the circles that appeared on the water and completely ignored the presence that she felt a second later. She just stood there, allowing Naruto to come close enough to stand beside her. But even then she did not look at the blonde, still concentrated on the circles, that now were slowly fading away.

"You really think that's the best solution?" the Kyuubi vessel asked her and seeing absolutely no reaction, he went on: "Running away never settled anything. As long as you won't stand up to it, the history will just keep repeating itself. Now that you two meet again, you can make this a turning point… are you gonna throw away that chance just because of what happened in the past?"

"He's a Jinchuuriki hunter" responded the kunoichi, still not looking at him as she picked up another stone and threw it into the lake as well. "And I'm still a monster… that much has not changed. And besides, what makes you think that this time will be any different from before?"

"You know, someone once told me, that looking into the past will only make you lose yourself in the present" announced Naruto as he too took the stone and made it bounce of the water surface few times. "History cannot be changed. We all have to live with the things we once did. But the past can teach us what we did wrong and increase our chances to not screw things up the second time. And because past cannot be changed, one must do everything that is in his power, to make a better future…"

For the first time since the start of their conversation, Yugito gazed at him, rising her eyebrow slightly. She quietly waited for him to continue and seeing this, the leaf-nin went on: "It's easy to make mistakes… Jinchuuriki or not, we're all still humans and certain events can push us to make the wrong judgments. For example a good friend of mine threw everything away, just because he thought that was the best way to achieve his goal. But even if we do make the wrong judgment, we must be prepared to realize that we made a mistake" he paused at this point and turned his eyes towards the sky, which this time was clear with only few, small, white clouds floating through it.

The blonde took a deep breath and then went on: "Kyouki made a mistake by judging you so fast, but are you any better? Because of what he did, you assume that is how he feels. People change, even if the change is not visible at first. Everyone deserves a second chance. Are you really that much of a hypocrite to think you should be given one, when you rid Kyouki from his?"

"He hates Jinchuuriki…" the girl began, however didn't managed to finish as the other blonde interrupted her: "And yet he came to help us when the Akatsuki attacked" and that very statement made Yugito went silent. The Kyuubi vessel didn't say a word for a while either, and then spoke up: "It's not easy for him either… you may not accept it, but after all you're the one who killed his only family… after something like that it's hard to make the first step… and yet, he came back. If you ask him, he'll certainly say that you're wrong, but the real reason he came here, was not killing you. It was you alone…"

"Why would he do that?"

"He may not even realize it himself yet, but the fact is that you are the only friend he has left" Naruto replied calmly, carefully choosing every word he spoke. "Just like he is yours. Both of you, after what happened to your teammates, pushed others away for different reasons… and right now you don't have anyone besides yourselves…"

"Even if what you're saying is true" began Yugito doubtfully. "How can we put aside what happened? Past won't vanish just because we want it to, you said so yourself" and as she said that, the boy gave her a warm smile upon replying: "No, it won't. But understanding that is the first step in moving on…"

Meanwhile Kyouki walked aimlessly through the streets of the village. He had his sight settled on the ground beneath him and didn't looked up even once. In actuality he didn't even noticed a certain presence that waited for him a bit further: "A golden ryou (_A?N: it's money in Naruto world, in case you don't know_) for your thoughts" he heard a soft voice and as he gazed up, he saw Hinata standing in front of him.

"It's nothing important" the demon hunter replied simply, avoiding eye contact with the girl by looking to his right. "I was just… recollecting some memories, that's all. It's been a long while since I trailed off into the past… a really long while…"

"You were thinking about Yugito-san and yourself, right?" the Hyuuga heiress more stated then asked, making the boy look into her eyes, but only for a moment. He then lowered his sight again, making a worried expression cross the girl's face: "Kyouki-san, I meant to ask you this for a while, but there really wasn't a good time to do so before… I'd like to know why is it that after everything you still try so hard to hate Jinchuuriki?"

The masked boy turn his gaze to his left as he thought for a moment. He then propped his back against the wall of a hut and glanced at the sky, remaining silent. Second went by and then, finally, the former cloud-nin decided to answer: "Either way I'll feel like betraying someone… if I were to forgive Yugito for what she… Raijuu" he corrected himself hesitantly, yet still sounded unsure of his decision. "…did, it'd be like I just erased both Hana-niisan and Renge-chan from my memory. And if I keep on hating her, then she'll end up hurt. It may seem stupid, but the three of them were the only people I came to care about. I never really knew my parents, so my team was the only family I had. And although I know it doesn't make much sense, I feel that I own them all something…" and with those words he slid down the wall and sat of the ground, placing his hands on his knees and hiding his masked mouth behind them.

"Actually" Hinata replied as she settled next to him and placed her arm around him slowly. "It makes a lot of sense. You don't get to pick family, it's given to you… however that doesn't change the fact that some people may become close to you as a family, even when you're not blood-related to them at all. Does a father who doesn't care about his child deserves to be called like that? Family is not about people that are related to you… it's about people you can count on when you need them. And most importantly being a family doesn't mean you don't fight or have your differences. It means that in the time of trail they'll do their best to help you…"

"Then what do you think I should do, Hinata-san?" Kyouki asked after taking a deep breath. He gazed into her peril eyes almost as if he could find the answers to his problems in them. The Hyuuga heiress took a moment of thought and then, with a warm smile, she replied: "I never got to meet your, other teammates, Kyouki-san, however from the way you described her, I believe your sister forgave Yugito for what Raijuu made her do the moment she did it… and as for that other girl, Renge… I'm not the one to judge, but it seems that she would prefer that you'd live a happy life… and that's not easy to do when you're alone. Even hard times are much easier to get through when you share them with someone…"

"Still Raijuu is within her. Above all the training, it's unpredictable. Considering you being so close with Naruto, you should know that those demons cannot be controlled. At least not entirely. What if she'd go out of control? What if I'll be the one that will be forced to kill her?"

"And what if it'll be someone else that kills her?" Hinata replied with a question, making the boy looked at her surprised. "Would it make you feel any better if she'd get killed? Would that put you at ease?" she asked, lowering her sight as a memory of a certain cousin flashed in her mind: "Hatred is a very, tricky emotion. You think you want someone death and do everything that is in your power to make that 'dream' come true… and yet, at the end, you may came to realize that you were wrong. Some things show their real value only once they're out of your reach… that is why it's very important to know what you really care about before you make any decision…"

"You make it sound so easy…"

"Well, it's not… cause if it was, people wouldn't regret anything. If it was, we wouldn't have had this conversation and you and Yugito-san would never doubt one another. Because no matter what you say, deep down you know that you don't want to push her away. You did so, because it was easier… you did so, because of regret…"

"Not just that…" he admitted after a short moment of silence, making Hinata lift her head to gaze at him. "As I told you that story I came to realize that there was more reason to it… true I found hard to accept the fact that she killed my sister and Renge-chan… I really hated her… and I suppose it was that hatred that scared me… that was the reason why I've decided to run away… you know what I mean, don't you?"

"Yes" the Hyuuga heiress replied with a sad smile. "Even at that time it was too hard…"

"It still is…" Kyouki responded instantly, narrowing his eyes. But not with anger. It was something else. "And I'm not sure if it'll ever disappear. What she did… well, that hate may always remain in my heart…"

"But at the very least that feelings shows that you accept her existence. It's more then what most people did for her" and with that they both went silent, having Hinata break it after a short while: "I'm not saying your scars will heal fast… or that they ever will… but you could, at the very least, try taking the medicine…"

And at this point the boy smiled, yet the Hyuuga heiress did not saw that, as it was covered by the former cloud-nin's mask. A second later Naruto and Yugito appeared in the alley. The Raijuu vessel slowly walked over to them, having Kyouki stand up. The white-eyed girl moved aside and reached her crush as they both observed the other pair.

None of the Kumo shinobi said a word. In stead they just stood inches from one another, staring into each other's eyes. After few seconds, that seemed like hours, the two embraced one another, having the kunoichi let out the tears she held in so long to get free. The boy only shut his eyes. There was nothing more that either needed to say.

Soon after Kurenai's team was all packed and ready. As they stood in the middle of the road with Kyouki and Yugito just a little away, Naruto smiled widely towards the two while he said: "I guess we're off, but you guys should be able to handle things from here" and with that he gave both a thumbs up.

The demon hunter only lowered his head, smiling beneath his mask before he also held out his hand and tightening it into a fist, he slammed it softly into Naruto's: "Don't worry, we'll be fine" and with that he turned towards Yugito, who only smiled upon nodding. The Kyuubi vessel smiled even wider and then turned around, following his companions example. However the moment he did the first step, the female Jinchuuriki ran over to him and blocked his way.

"Just one, more thing before you go, Naruto" she announced, making all the leaf-nin stop and turn their gazes at them. Before anyone could take any action, Yugito leaned over a little and grabbing the whisker-marks cheeks with her hands, she placed a soft kiss on his lips, making the boy's face turn deep red: "Thank you for everything" she ended, letting him go.

An angry expression crossed Hinata's face as she frown for a split second and then turned away, making Kiba smile at her behavior. It took Naruto a moment to get out of his shock and then, still a little out there, he followed the rest of the Leaf shinobi back to their village, giving the two cloud-nins the final wave goodbye.

"Next time you have to come and visit us!" the blonde announced, once more turning towards the two as he kept on waving. "Surely we'll have loads of stuff to talk about! And Yugito-chan, watch that temper!" he joked, making the other Jinchuuriki smirk under her nose.

The whisker-marks kept on walking backwards until the village they just left disappeared behind a hill. He then smiled and gazed at the ground as a sudden, saddening feeling entered his heart. It wasn't pity nor the fact that he had to say goodbye. It was more as if he felt that he lost something ages ago and only now managed to realize it.

He slowed down the paste, making his companions turn around. As they all looked at the blonde, who suddenly stopped and stared at the ground, Kiba scratched the back of his head, slightly confused: "Oi, Naruto, is everything alright?" he asked a bit worried, yet Shino only send the Kyuubi vessel a quick gaze. The bug user knew what happened.

"Well, lets get going!" suddenly Naruto yelled loudly as he sped up. "I want to get back to Konoha ASAP! Next stop: Grass Country!" and with that he ran down the road, passing his comrades, with Hinata following him, giggling in the process. Kiba only whined and muttered something about 'troublesome people', which made Kurenai smile as well, while Shino only adjust his glasses.

Their mission was over, but the road before them was still a very long one. And it did not end on the Hidden Leaf Village.

---Same time, elsewhere---

Hidan and Kakuzu walked into a long, dark hallway, where the only light source were lit up torches that hung on the walls. The hallway itself was a rather narrow one and had a strange smell floating in the air. As they walked deeper, water drops began falling from the ground that former the ceiling of the tunnel, taking a loud splash through the entire place.

After a longer walk, they reached a wide, round room with a pond in the middle. A large statue with hands raised and tied together with huge, golden cuffs stood above the water. It had a bandana tied on its eyes, through which nine pupils saw. Yet, only three of them were opened.

Kakuzu glanced down, noticing a boy around fifteen years old laying on the floor motionless. He had gelled up, white hair and was wearing a black t-shirt along with long, baggy, black pants with three stripes going down each trouser leg. The former waterfall-nin also noticed a hitae-ate with the Rain symbol on his forehead.

"Took you long enough" announced Kisame as he walked out of the shadows along with Itachi, who merely gazed at his partner, yet said nothing. "How the hell did getting here from the Lighting Country took you this much time? Everything is already prepared for the sealing and I'm dying of boredom…"

"We had to make an extra stop" Kakuzu replied simply as he walked right pass the swordsman. The shark-face looked over his shoulder at the former waterfall-nin and narrowed his eyes, however he stopped himself from any comment. An instant later other members of the Akatsuki walked into the room.

As Hidan looked around and spotted a figure with spiky, black hair and a weird, orange, whirlpool mask covering his face. He wore the usual, Akatsuki cloak, along with the ring on his finger. The one that once belonged to a certain puppeteer. The scythe user then turned towards the blonde woman (_A/N: just as a reminder: I made that character a female, though I know that in the original he's a guy_) and with a bored tone, he announced: "You should be pleased, Deidara… you won't have to suffer Tobi's annoying presence anymore…"

"Oh, don't say that, Hidan-san" the one wearing the mask said with his voice sounding fake, yet the former rain-nin ignored him completely and continued: "We found your partner" and the moment he said so, a third figure appeared in the shadows of the hallway he and Kakuzu just walked through.

Sasori had his head lowered and held it in his right hand as he felt a bit dizzy. The redhead gazed up at the people gathered in the room, with his face emotionless as always, though for some reason Zetsu had a weird feeling that he just saw rage crossing the puppeteer's face for a split second.

"I never expected to see you alive, Sasori" announced a mysterious figure, who still remained covered in shadows, not revealing itself to others. "I was positive Kengo would just finish you off once he'll be done with you… but more importantly: did you gave him the information he was looking for?"

"Possibly" the former sand-nin replied shortly with an angry tone in his voice. "I have no idea what sort of drug he used, but it appears it works even for puppets. But that's besides the point. Sorry, Deidara, but you won't be rid of Tobi just yet. I'm not rejoining the Akatsuki… at least not for the time being…"

"Mind explaining yourself?" Itachi cut in calmly, gaining the redhead's attention.

"I have a different priority at the moment" Sasori responded simply, turning towards the Sharingan user. "The only reason why I came with Hidan and Kakuzu was to unseal my greatest masterpiece. I'm not letting Kengo go after this. I'll make him pay, since I know where to find him…"

None of the people gathered in the room said a thing. Some exchanged glances, knowing which puppet their former member had in mind. A doll that has yet been used and at the same time one that was the most frightening of all. The puppeteer walked down another hallway, deeper into the compound, announcing to no-one in particular: "Once I'll make all the necessary preparations, I'm leaving to the Grass Country!"

---That time, back in the Hidden Leaf Village---

A man with long, messy, black hair stood in the middle of an empty street, looking before him. His body was covered in bandages that hid his right eye and circled around his right side, which seemed to be missing an arm. He had a cross-like scar on his chin and had to prop himself with a stick in order to keep standing. He wore a black robe, that left the left side of his torso completely uncovered.

"It'd appear I still have some power in this village" he stated emotionlessly as he gazed at the figure kneeling before him. "I've pulled some strings and you'll be assigned to Hatake Kakashi's cell for the time being. It'll make your mission much easier to fulfill, however do not take it lightly. For our goals… it is very important that you complete it. I've also chosen you a new name for this time. Starting today, until the end, you'll be going under the name Sai. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Danzou-sama" a young boy kneeling before the man replied. He had medium-length, black hair and a black shirt with its left sleeve short and right one long, that exposed his navel. He had long, black pants and wore black, fingerless gloves on his hands. His hitae-ate with the Leaf symbol was located on his forehead and we was carrying a backpack with a handle wrapped in bandages sticking out of it.

The boy, Sai, seemed to smile, however the man only narrowed his eyes in annoyance, before he stopped him: "Don't bother… that smiling face of yours is still as fake as it has always been. It works on my nerves just to look at it. To think that someone of yours skills is lacking in something that simple. It doesn't matter though, for a shinobi, it's a very useful trait…"

"I have heard however that people more gladly accept a smiling face then any other" the boy responded, his face once more becoming emotionless, just like the man's. "It'll be bothersome to fit it… this is truly regrettable: I've practice for quite some time and yet I'm still incapable of showing this thing called… 'emotion'…"

_**---mysterious man and Sasori's rage… what awaits Naruto in the Grass Country?---**_

_Who is this Sai person that's suppose to join Naruto and his team? What is his mission? What puppet does Sasori have that is even stronger then the Sandaime Kazekage? Coming up: Naruto heads out to the Grass Country in search of Sasuke and Kakashi's team is re-arranged! The adventure is not over yet!_

Well, that's that for this time. I truly hope that you enjoyed it and that you'll answer my question, so that I'd know where you prefer this story to go. Thanks in advance to everyone.

Best wishes and hopefully until next time!


	19. New and Improved Team Number 7

I know it took me longer to update… again. Sorry bout that. On a more positive note however, this chapter is longer then the usual ones (try over twice as long… seriously), so hopefully that would make it up to you the long wait.

Now, at first I figured this may be a one-timer, but then I thought about it and figured I'll let you guys decide. Now, the question is this: do you prefer for me to update chapters in the length they were up to now or would you like me to extend the chapter length and possibly (not necessary though… the fact that this chapter took so long to get submitted is mostly collage's fault, coz once my collage work was done, I managed to write like 80 porcent of this chappie in four days with long breaks) wait longer for an update? The choice is yours and just let me know which you prefer.

Now, as for this chapter itself: I must say I'm not entirely happy with it. Keeping Sai in character proven to be rather difficult, but considering that Grass Country arc in the manga was mostly about his evolution, staying true to his original self was my top priority. I hope I've managed to do that. Naturally however, as I hate to just repeat the manga completely, some events were altered or skipped. Nothing crucial, though you'll see differences between the manga and this chapter (I won't say anything, to not spoil). Also there are moments completely original (including NaruHina ones), which I hope you'll find enjoyable.

Also I wanna thank everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. It means a lot, though I must say that I'm also slightly disappointed with the number of reviews for last time and thus I'd like to ask everyone a favor to review this chapter, so that I'd know that even after the period when this fic was updated occasionally, you guys (and girls) are still interested in know what happens next.

With that said, I believe the only thing left for me to do is to get on with the 'show':

**Chapter #19: New and Improved Team Number Seven**

"What, a new mission already?" Kiba asked completely surprised, having Akamaru bark loudly as a sign that he agreed with his master. "But we only just got back from the Lighting Country!" the young Inuzuka reminded the Godaime as she sat behind her desk with her elbows on it and palms placed together before her mouth.

"I'm fully aware of that, however this is not my choice" Tsunade replied calmly, yet Hinata could've sworn she felt annoyance in the current Hokage's voice. "It'd appear that the team that was originally meant to complete that mission had other, important business and so the elders asked me to send another cell. Unfortunately, you're the only ones available at this moment, since Kakashi is still recovering and most jounin are on their own missions. This is an A-rank task, so I need a high rank shinobi on it. Kurenai, you're the only one I have left…"

"I understand, Tsunade-sama" the red-eyed woman bowed slightly as she glanced over at her female subordinate and a worried expression crossed her face. Her eyes then stopped at the blonde beside her and with a moment of hesitation, the genjutsu specialist asked: "There's still the issue of filling the empty spots in Kakashi's cell for their mission that is to come…"

"It appears the elders thought of that" the Godaime assured her as her gaze traveled to the Kyuubi vessel: "Naruto, the third member of your team has been assigned already. The elders convinced me that his skills are more then satisfactory and that whatever obstacles you will run into, he should be able to help you guys overcome it. As for the jounin that will take Kakashi's place… it's a man I myself have biggest faith in…"

"Yeah, whatever…" the blonde shoot back as disappointment filled him, yet he couldn't understand what caused it. After all, he was going to the Grass Country regardless. Hinata was doing much worse as she only lowered her head and stared at the floor. Kiba noticed that and a sad expression crossed his face as well. He knew what she wanted, but there was no way…

"Tsunade-sama, are all of us required to complete our new assignment?" Shino's voice suddenly filled the room, making both his teammates gaze at him surprise. Naruto only threw him a quick look, confused to no end, and then glanced back at the Hokage, who seemed to ignore the question at first sight, yet then smiled under her nose softly: "Why ask that?"

"The mission Kakashi-san's cell is going to is a very dangerous one" the bug user responded, keeping his usual, stone face. "And I do not want to be taken as someone who doubts the skills of the people chosen to accompany Naruto and Sakura on their mission, however going to the Grass Country, far away from Konoha, and risking running into Orochimaru makes their task A-rank as well and even with strong shinobi on the team, neither Naruto nor Sakura worked with them before, so teamwork may be lacking…"

"Yeah!" Kiba immediately understood what his friend was getting at and joined the conversation. "On such missions trust and teamwork are very important! All three of us know Sakura and Naruto since the Academy, so it'd be easier for them to work with one of us then total strangers! It was because we were supposed to aid them that Naruto tagged along and helped us with our mission in the first place!"

Tsunade only smiled as she realized what the two boys intention was. The Godaime slowly stood up and walked before her desk without saying a word. As she finally stood before the five, she leaned against the desk and spoke up: "Well, the team rooster has been decided already, however it's not said that the cell cannot have more members then a typical, gennin team, especially since none of the members are gennin… well, most at least" and with that she gazed at Naruto, who only frowned. The Legendary Leaf's smile widen even more at that and then she turned towards Kurenai: "Are you sure you'll manage to complete the task with a smaller number of subordinates though?"

"Shouldn't be a problem, Tsunade-sama" the genjutsu specialist replied immediately, bowing again and then send the two boys a smile. "But there's still the issue of which of them should stay to help…"

"Hinata seems like the best choice" Shino announced simply. "Since the objective is to bring Uchiha Sasuke back, her Byakugan might prove very useful in locating him, if something goes wrong or if the information given by that blonde from the Wind Country was false…"

"It's decided then" the Hokage smiled towards him and turned towards the white-eyed girl: "Hyuuga Hinata, starting tomorrow, until the time their newest mission is complete, you'll be supporting Kakashi's cell" and then she included Naruto in her sight as well, before saying: "You two are to appear at the northern gate of Konoha at seven in the morning tomorrow to meet up with the rest of your team and begin your mission. And as for you guys…" with that she looked at the rest of shinobi gathered in the room: "You have a little time to rest, however I expect that you'll go to carry out your task by the end of today…"

"Naturally, Tsunade-sama" Kurenai assured her and then headed towards the door with her subordinates following her. As the two boys walked pass Hinata, the girl managed a shy smile and loud enough only for them to hear her, she announced: "Thank you, Kiba-kun… Shino-kun…"

"Don't mention it" the dog ninja replied with a smile as he placed his hand on her head. "Just watch yourself, ladybird" and as he said so, the bug user glanced at him from behind his glasses, making the young Inuzuka sweat drop. "Oh get real, bug boy!"

---Some time later at the Konoha hospital---

Hinata slowly opened the door leading towards the recovery room, only to notice she wasn't the only one who decided to visit the man staying in it. As she closed the door behind her, she walked over to the pink-haired girl that stood right next to the bed, where a man with silver hair and a violet mask covering his mouth was sitting. His gazed stopped at the Hyuuga heiress and with a little sleepy voice, he announced: "I was already informed that you'll be tagging along with my subordinates to the Grass Country… I suppose it's a good thing, considering a Hyuuga can always prove very useful…"

The girl didn't reply. She just managed a weak nod as her face turned slightly red. Sakura smiled seeing this and then turned towards her instructor again, her face showing determination: "Kakashi-sensei, can you tell us now why were we called here? I still need to make preparations before our mission tomorrow…"

"This will only take a minute, however it is something that you both should know, considering what happened in the Wind Country. But what I tell you now must not leave this room and above anything Naruto cannot find out what I'm about to tell you" and as he looked the two kunoichi over to find out if they understood, he continued, much quieter then before: "It's about that boy you meet while fighting Akatsuki… it's about Kengo…"

---The next day---

Naruto, Sakura and Hinata came to their meeting spot at the gate first thing in the morning. Upon arrival, they noticed two figures already awaiting them. The first was a boy with black hair, wearing a black outfit that revealed his navel. He wore his hitae-ate on his forehead and carried a backpack with a handle wrapped in bandages sticking out of it.

The other figure was a man with spiky, black hair and hazel eyes. He wore a black shirt with a brown, chuunin vest on top of it and also had his headband located on his forehead. As Sakura took a closer look, she had a weird feeling this man resembled a little bit someone she knew, yet she couldn't place a finger.

"Ah, you're finally here" the man greeted them as he walked closer to the three. "My name is Yamato and I'll be replacing Kakashi-sempai as your team leader for the time being. Now, as I was informed, some of you know each other for a while now, but it's best to do our introductions again, just so that no-one will be left out" and once he said that the trio gave their names, each starring at the mysterious boy, who still haven't said nor even made a gesture to greet them. As his time came, he only replied, with a smile as fake as one can be: "My name is Sai".

"As most of you are aware, as team Kakashi we will be heading to the Grass Country to find the spy of Kengo's, which he mentioned in the scroll you obtained during your Wind Country mission" began Yamato calmly, ignoring the fact that Hinata still threw Sai suspicious looks. "We hope to get as much information from him as it'll be possible. If the worst should happen, we'll make an attempt to capture and interrogate him. By doing so we'll hope to acquire information about Orochimaru as well as Uchiha Sasuke's whereabouts. This mission is of high importance not only to retrieve your former teammate, but also to help the village get rid of Orochimaru's treat, so I do hope you'll act responsible. Lets move out!" and with that they went on their way. Most of them anyways.

Sakura instantly looked over her shoulder, to gaze at Sai, who stayed near the gate and hid something in his backpack before joining the others. The pink-haired kunoichi stared at him for a moment, but upon receiving a fake smile, she returned to observing the route before her. As she took her eyes off him, the older boy gazed at the ground beneath him as the memory of the events from the early morning flashed in his mind.

"_It's hard for my to believe you're still carrying something like that around_" the words of the masked ANBU from his division echoed in his head. "_Have you already forgotten that in 'Roots' you have no name, no feelings, no future and no past? What you have is your mission and this time failure will not be tolerated! Do not let it interfere with your task…_"

Sai's expression didn't change, even as those words rang in his mind. He raised his sight again and only then noticed Naruto glancing at him. The older boy stared back at him for a while and then asked with his voice as emotionless as his face: "Why are you looking at me?"

"Nothing really" the blonde replied, putting his hands behind his back. "It's just that we never met before and I'm curious as to what you can do. Considering we're teammates, at least for the time being, I figured we could talk to get to know each other…"

"Please stop starring at me then" Sai asked politely, yet his voice gave the Kyuubi vessel an impression that such tone was unnatural to him. "Otherwise I'll show you what I can do, by hurting you…" and the instant he said so, Naruto snapped, while his eyes widen. His sight froze at the older boy as if he tried to drill through him with his gaze: "What?"

"I knew we'll be teammates for a while and thus I've decided to read your data" Sai replied calmly, still not showing any trance of emotion. "Just like I learned about miss face ugly over there" with that he gave Sakura a quick gaze, making the pink-haired kunoichi literally lose it and if it wasn't for Hinata grabbing her in time, the older boy would receive a destructive punch in the face right there. "By doing so I realize that you're just a nuttless numbskull… with all the missions you went on, in order to get things done, you required backup. On your own you're not really worth much. The same goes for Face ugly back there…"

"You asshole" Naruto began as anger shook his body, yet before he could respond, the white-eyed girl cut in: "Umm… Sai-kun, I know that we just met you and being in a group where everyone know each other may make you feel isolated, but that sort of language isn't really appropriate for a situation like this. You're not making much of a first impression…"

"Quite frankly, neither are you…"

"That is quite enough!" announced Yamato in an ordering tone. "Teamwork and trust are the pillars of the team! Knowing Kakashi-san, he surely taught you this much! And I'm positive Kurenai-san gave your team the same lesson, Hinata… considering this it's hard for me to believe you're members of his team…"

"We are, but he's not!" yelled Naruto annoyed as he pointed at Sai. "The third member of our team is Sasuke! He's just a placeholder for him and I'll never accept him as a real teammate! The instant I tried to be friends with him, he threatened me! He's nothing like Sasuke!"

"That's quite alright" announced Sai after a moment of silence, once more giving out his fake smile. "This Sasuke person was a weakling, who in order to gain strength, betrayed his village and ran off to Orochimaru. Both him and the man he turned to for power, are fools and I'm actually grateful that you're not associating me with them… not like your opinion matters to me either way…"

"You bas-" the blonde took a single step forward, tightening his fist, yet at this time Sakura's hand suddenly appeared in his way. As he gazed to his right, he saw the pink-haired kunoichi standing beside him with a serious face, which instantly turned into a smile: "Yamato-sensei is right, at a mission like this teamwork is crucial. Sai, Naruto is pretty impulsive and he doesn't know you too well, thus he may have gone a bit too far and for that I apologize. However…" and in that very moment she charged forward, delivering a powerful punch into the older boy's face, thus sending him flying back.

As Sai whipped blood that came out of his lip, the young medic send him a death glare and settling her eyes on him, she announced with a fearful voice: "I will not allow you to speak ill of Naruto or Sasuke-kun! You know nothing about them and if I'll hear you badmouthing them, I'll really let you have it!"

"Fair enough" announced the boy, getting back to his feet, with a smile appearing on his face. "I shall not mention the Uchiha again. And I will also keep in mind how you used that phony smile…" and at this point Naruto snapped again: "Why the hell are you smiling, dammit? You just got creamed!"

"I read in a book that a smile is the best way to get out of difficult situations, coz even if it's fake, people will fall for it" Sai replied calmly without a change in his voice nor face. "Although it doesn't seem to be working now…"

In a flash Yamato performed a quick set of hand seals and instantly wooden bars arose from the ground, surrounding the four, surprised gennin: "This is not kinder garden" he announced calmly, leaning against his own creation. "We only have five days to get to the Bridge of Heaven and Earth and I will not allow your grudges to hold us back. Now, I'll give you two choices: you can either spend the night in there, getting to know each other and get along, or you can do so at the hot springs. I'm not the one to get carried away by emotions. I prefer to stay calm and rational, however I'm not above controlling people with terror either…" and with that he gazed at the quartet, sending shivers down their spines (_A/N: well, all besides Sai that is_) as the shadows made his face look even more grim.

---A while later, elsewhere---

Naruto sunk a bit deeper into the spring, making the water cover his mouth. Sai merely glance over at the blonde and once more showing his fake smile, he announced: "Well I'll be, you seem to have a set after all" and, as usual, that comment made the Kyuubi vessel snap again: "What the…? Quite starring at me, dammit! Can't you talk about anything else besides other people's dicks?"

"This is… embarrassing" announced Sakura sweat dropping as she and Hinata were using the hot spring right on the other side of a high, wooden fence. She glanced over at the white-eyed girl with a bored face: "Those two will never get along, I can tell you this much. Naruto's too impulsive and Sai don't give a damn…"

"It's a wonder why he's acting like that" the Hyuuga heiress replied with a tiny drop of concern in her voice. "It's not like he's acting just like he didn't care… it's as if he doesn't show emotions at all and if he tries to, he fails miserably. That smile of his from before, his polite tone… they're nowhere near natural…"

"Yeah, he's really weird… and that coming from a girl who got teamed up with Naruto and Kakashi-sensei" she added, giving out a smile at her joke. Hinata replied with a smirk as well, before announcing: "This is what Sai-kun seems to be lacking... it's not just that he's closed, but I can't even trace a tiny drop of joy in him…"

"Well, at the moment I'm more concerned with Yamato-sensei really" stated the young medic as she glanced at the sky that now turned red while the sun began hiding behind the horizon. "That wooden cage he created… that was the Shodai Hokage's Mokuton, however for all I know, Tsunade-sama's grandfather was the only one capable of performing it. That brings a question as to how Yamato-sensei can do it, does it?" and with that she turned towards her companion, yet the white-eyed girl didn't reply. Not because she didn't want to, but because she had no answer.

Soon after the night ell upon them, decorating the sky with hundreds of shining stars and a crescent moon. Sakura left the hot spring some time ago, yet Hinata decided to stay for a longer while for no, particular reason. As the air started to get cold, the young heiress figured she overdid it a bit and slowly began to head back to her room as well. She quickly wrapped herself in a towel and got back inside. Yet only after reaching the wardrobe did she realize that her clothes were gone.

"_It's not very funny, Sakura-san_" she thought to herself with a sad expression crossing her face for a split second. She slowly took a pick into the hallway and noticing no-one there, she decided to make a run for it. She speed through the narrow halls of the inn, hoping to avoid contact with anyone, sadly she didn't manage to do that as turning behind another corner he bumped into someone and landed on her butt.

"I'm very sorry!" she apologized immediately as she stood back up and began to bow nervously, embarrassed to no end. Only after a while did she realized who she bumped into: "N-Naruto-kun?" she asked surprised, seeing the blonde gennin on the floor, rubbing his behind, which seemed to suffer from the fall.

The instant he heard his name, the whisker-marks raised his sight and noticed his companion looking at him with concern, leaning over towards him. However bending over turned out to be the girl's mistake as Naruto's attention was quickly drawn away from her face to different parts of her body as he realized she was only wearing a towel.

The two stayed like that for a while, with the blonde staring before himself, red all over, and then girl glancing at him, slightly confused. Finally the Kyuubi vessel regained his senses and panicking, he instantly spun around on his butt, now showing the white-eyed girl his back. As his heart started to race almost as if wanted to jump out of his chest, the boy manage to speak up, gulping loudly before doing so: "H-Hinata-chan, why… why are you only wearing a towel?" he asked nervously and only then did the Hyuuga heiress remembered why she was running through the hallway in the first place.

Instinctually she hid behind the corner and sticking out her head, she replied, now joining the blushing contest: "I… well, my clothes disappeared, so I didn't had any choice…" and with that she covered her mouth: "_Such an embarrassment… and in front of Naruto-kun too!_" she cried in her mind.

Meanwhile, in Naruto's head, thoughts were completely different: "_No dirty thoughts, no dirty thoughts, no dirty thoughts!_" he reminded himself as he tried to recall anything unpleasant or disgusting to wipe the image he just saw: "_Lets see… fly in ramen… Akamaru's stench… Lee's eyebrows… yeah, that works_" he sighed in relief as he turned again to look at the girl. Immediately he took off his jumpsuit and placed it on the kunoichi's back, wrapping her in it: "Here, this'll do until you get to your room" he announced, his face still red as a beetroot.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun" she replied and went on her way. In a record time she got to her room and located herself on the other side of the door, redder then every. Sakura gazed at her as she came in, slightly confused. The white-eyed girl gave her an angry look, before she spoke: "That wasn't very funny, Sakura-san…"

"Meaning what?" the pink-haired kunoichi asked, even more confused then she already was. The Hyuuga heiress lustrated her with her eyes for a moment, and sensing that her companion was really clueless as to what she meant, her worry grew: "But if it wasn't you nor was it one of Naruto-kun's jokes, then who took my clothes?"

Time went by and soon the night fell, making everyone forget the incident. Well, everyone besides Naruto, who albeit Lee's eyebrows, still couldn't help but have trouble sleeping as he turned from one side to the other on his bed, while a very specific image kept on appearing in his head: "_This is not good_" he thought to himself as he stared at the ceiling, once he gave up the idea of sleeping. "_All of a sudden I felt like I'm in one of ero-sennin's stupid books! ARGH, Hinata-chan's gonna kill me if I won't overcome this! But what can I do, even the eyebrows stopped working! I know!_" and with that he turned to his left, where Sai was supposed to be sleeping, but to his surprise, the older boy was not there. "_Where the hell did that asshole disappeared to and at this hour?_"

Meanwhile the older boy sat at the edge of the inn's roof, looking through a picture book. As he heard a suspicious noise, he instantly hid the book in his backpack again and gazed over his shoulder, noticing Hinata, now in her spare clothes. The older boy did not say a word as the white-eyed girl came closer, he just stared at her blankly, with his usual, emotionless face.

"Why are you out here all by yourself at this hour, Sai-kun?" the kunoichi asked politely with a little worried voice. The boy kept on starring at her for a while longer, before he decided to respond: "Actually, I could ask you the same thing" he announced, getting back to his feet. The instant he said so, Hinata narrowed her eyes slightly, yet replied regardless: "I saw you with my Byakugan from my room… when on a dangerous mission, when you see someone who's suppose to be your companion, yet doesn't act like one, away from the group, it's natural you get suspicious…"

"So, I'm not trustworthy then?" asked the older boy, once again putting on his fake smile. For a brief second the Hyuuga heiress felt like her companion was teasing her, but shook it off. Her eyes narrowed even more as she answered: "No, you're not. You're not giving us any reason to trust you really. Now answer my question…"

"I just wanted to breath some cool, night air… and maybe stare at the stars" Sai replied without a moment of hesitation, yet his fake smile gave the impression he hid something. Hinata's eyes traveled to his backpack for a second and then back to the painter's pupils, as she asked another question: "That book you was looking at… what was it? Something important perhaps?"

"I'm afraid you're mistaken" the boy responded, widening his smirk. "When it comes to me, there's nothing that can be called 'important' besides my mission. That is who I am… and that book you're referring to… it's just something that I didn't felt like throwing away…"

"In other words you do not wish to lose it…"

"That's not it" Sai corrected her calmly, yet the expression on his face gave her a thought that keeping his fake smile got a bit harder for her companion. "It just felt inappropriate to leave it behind… that's all…"

"It's still the same" the girl noticed, making the painter get rid of his smile and return to being emotionless again. "If something's important to us, we do not wish to lose it for whatever reason we may have. Be it a person or a simple thing, we always want to have it by our side, even if we do not show it. And just like that, you've proven that you're not that different from any of us…"

"That's not right…"

"Then why don't you throw that book away right here, right now?" the white-eyed kunoichi kept on pushing. "If that book really possess no meaning for you… if it's just a useless item… what pushes you to carry it around?"

At those words Sai hesitated for a moment. The words of a certain ANBU ranged in his head again as he slowly reached for his backpack and picking out his picture book, he threw it of the roof. Hinata looked surprised as the book disappeared in the nearby bushes. With that the boy put his baggage onto his back and as he walked pass the girl, he stopped for a brief moment, announcing: "That is who I am… the only thing that's important, is my mission. All, other things, are less then secondary to me" and with that went back inside, leaving the shocked kunoichi to herself.

---The next morning---

Sakura yawned as she stretched herself. The first sunrays merely began to enter the room as she got up and put on her clothes. The pink-haired kunoichi turned towards her companion, but Hinata was still asleep, thus she decided not to wake her. She approached the window to look outside and instantly noticed someone sitting near the stairs. Only upon looking closer did she realize that it was Sai.

"Sai? You're drawing a picture?" she asked as she approached the older boy. Without waiting for a reply she leaned and looked over his shoulder. To her surprise however the drawing her new teammate made was basically just a collection of lines of various shapes and thickness. "You have a really bad mouth, but there is a delicate side of you, I see" she announced, smiling towards the painter.

"This smile of yours… you're not gonna knock me down again, are you?" the older boy asked, once more using his fake smirk. In response the pink-haired kunoichi gave a wicked smile and then replied: "Maybe later… right now I only came here to see your painting, coz I wondered what it was. To be honest I'm quite surprised: sitting in this place and gazing at the forest one would think you'd be drawing a landscape and this is abstraction. What's the title of this picture?"

"Who knows?" came a response and as Sakura asked if he still haven't decided, Sai simply continued: "It's not that… although I drew thousands of pictures, never before have I given any a name…"

"That's odd" stated the young medic after glancing at his surprised for a moment. "Usually the artist give a name to his paintings. In case of a portrait it's the person's name and if not it's usually the situation at the moment, his own mood or feelings…"

"Then naming my drawings like that would not be possible for me anyway" Sai replied simply, dropping his fake smile for a split second as he did so. "Even if I were to accurate a title to it, I wouldn't be able to… when it comes to feelings… nothing occurs to me…" and at this point the pink-haired girl's eyes widen as she gazed at him again. She never even realized that some else walked over to them.

"Yamato-sensei asked to get you guys" announced Naruto, throwing Sai an irritated look. "We'll be leaving soon" and with that his eyes stopped at the picture. His eyes narrowed and with an uncaring voice, he said to no-one in particular: "This drawing isn't anything much…"

"No, it's not, isn't it?" the older boy responded, once more with a fake smile. "Just like your dick" and at this anger once again built up in the blonde: "I'll say this from the bottom of my heart!" Naruto announced, pointing his finger at Sai. "I hate you!" and with that he spun on his foot, turning his back towards the painter and crossed his arms. "I seriously can't stand you! That stupid, fake smile and behavior! For crying out loud, if you got a problem, say it straight and speak your mind, dammit!"

"Sorry, but that's not it" Sai replied calmly, yet didn't drop his smile. "I really don't think anything of you" and with that he slowly got back to his feet, picking up his things while the blonde did his best to restrain himself. "You go ahead, I'll join you as soon as I'll gather everything…"

"I'll help you" Sakura announced after a moment of hesitation as she picked up a certain picture book. Upon looking at the cover, which presented a boy, she gazed at the painter again, this time with a question: "This isn't a print, did you also draw this?" at that Sai merely gave a nod before taking his book back and placing it into his backpack quickly, while he noted Hinata coming towards them. "This book…" the young medic began, slightly uncomfortable. "You think you could show it to me sometime while we're on our way?"

"I'm afraid that's impossible, since it is not yet complete" Sai replied, for the first time this day dropping his fake smile. His face once more became emotionless, yet the Hyuuga heiress saw something more in it. The painter settled his eyes on her for a split second, before returning to look at the pink-haired kunoichi: "Also, that is not something that can be handed to other people. The picture on the cover… is my brother" and with that he put his backpack on, before walking pass the trio.

---A while later---

The group walked through the forest, nearing the meeting spot with Kengo's spy. As the others went a little ahead, Naruto slowed down to find himself next to Hinata. As the girl gazed at him, they both looked away, blush covering their faces. The blonde swallowed his saliva as he felt getting nervous. Sweat drops began appearing on his face, while he spoke up, carefully picking every word: "You know, Hinata-chan… about last night…"

"Yes, umm…" the white-eyed kunoichi replied, playing with her fingers as she threw her eyes all over the forest as if she tried to find a way to get out of this uncomfortable situation. "Last night… umm… maybe it'd be best if… well… we'd just forget about it?" she purposed hopefully as the image from the hallway flashed in her mind, thus making her embarrassment grow.

"_If only I could_" Naruto thought to himself with guilt as he stared at the sky while he blush deepened. He shook his head, trying to throw out a certain image, that once more popped into his head and upon achieving success, he responded: "Yeah, I… I guess that'd be for the best" he announced with a little too wide smile, for it to be natural.

"This place will do" announced Yamato suddenly as he dropped his backpack in the middle of a small meadow surrounded with trees, but breaking the conversation between the two. Hearing this, Naruto glanced at the man confused and seeing this, the wood user continued: "I already told you as we left the village that our mission is to capture and interrogate the target. In order to do so, we need to avoid inflicting any, lethal injuries upon him or her, even if the situation will progress into a fight. If we are to fail, we'll lose a very valuable source of information and that is why I'll go in first and the rest of you will work as my backup. The plan is simple: first I'll try to restrain the target and if I'll prove incapable of doing so I'll give you a signal to come in and support me. In case of a fight, we'll attack in pairs, where one person will be the main attack and the other will provide backup for his actions. The pairs will be me and Sakura… and Naruto with Sai…"

"I disagree!" yelled the Kyuubi vessel, pointing at the older boy. "Why do I have to…"

"Sakura is the only medical ninja on our team" Yamato interrupted him calmly, yet send the blonde a warning glare. "We can't afford to let her get injured and thus she'll be coming with me" and upon hearing this, Sai gave away another of his fake smiles: "No objections then?" he asked, turning towards Naruto, which made the whisker-marks even angrier.

He quickly calmed down this time however as he realized Hinata dropping her head. Sensing what was wrong, he immediately spoke again: "Wait, Yamato-sensei, you forgot about Hinata-chan!" but the man only gazed at the Hyuuga heiress and with his voice still calm, he replied: "Not at all. With her Byakugan she's perfect for scouting. While we'll try to carry out the capture part of our mission, she'll be on the lookout for possible ambush or enemies. Also, if the target would be to somehow escape us, we'll be counting on you to keep a trace on him…" and with that he send the girl a questioning look. The white-eyed kunoichi only nodded, disappointed she wouldn't be able to help her companions in a fight.

"Also, seeing how things went up till now, I can tell you could use a little practice in teamwork" the older man continued, gaining the boys attention. "I need to know what fighting styles you use, what kind of battle skills do you possess, along with the techniques you're capable of performing. This will also be a chance for you to observe me closely. This meadow will be our training ground… now, I'll give you a minute to hide and the girls to stand away. After that we'll begin our sparring…"

The minute passed away rather quickly and as Yamato stood ready in the meadow, two blurs suddenly jumped out of the bushes surrounding it. The first to come was Naruto, who engaged his leader with a spin kick, yet the older man easily ducked under the assault and swipe the blonde off his feet. Before he crushed against the ground however, the whisker-marks managed to prop himself against the surface with his hands and bounce off of it.

As Yamato gazed after the Kyuubi vessel, who flew into the air, Sai charged in, aiming to hit his captain with an opened palm. The older man managed to react in time however and quickly spun on his foot, grabbing the painter by the wrist as his back now faced the boy. In a flash the wood user reached with his other hand behind his back and grabbing the "Roots" member by the shirt, he spun again, dragging Sai with him.

Upon making a full circle, Yamato let go of the boy, thus sending him flying, yet the painter managed to flip in mid-air and came to a sliding stop, unharmed. It was then that Naruto attacked again with his fist. The older man acted immediately and leaning forward, he threw his leg back, thus kicking the blonde's fist to the sky.

Surprised by this, the whisker-marks slowed down for a split second, yet that was enough for Yamato to act: in a flash he propped himself on the ground and standing on his hands, he threw his other leg straight at the blonde. Giving in to the instinct, the Kyuubi vessel jumped up and placing his hand on the leg that was about to kick him, he used it to spin around and landed before his captain, aiming to knee him in the back.

With no, other way to dodge, Yamato bounced off the ground, away from Naruto's attack. In the very same instant Sai appeared above the blonde and grabbing him by the shoulders, he somersaulted, taking the whisker-marks with him. Before the wood user shaken his shock, the painter tossed his teammate straight at the older man, making the Kyuubi vessel come at him at an incredible speed.

Not having enough time to dodge, Yamato blocked the assault with his hands, however the instant Naruto's kick connected with his arms, the blonde bounced back and flipped in mid-air, allowing Sai to run bellow him. Still trying to keep his balance after the Kyuubi vessel's attack, the wood user's eyes widen at the sight of the painter's fist coming from below straight at his chin.

In a desperate attempt, Yamato bended back, completely losing his balance and as he began to fell, he propped himself on his right hand, while Sai's attack hit air. Breaking the fall with his hand, the man's feet went flying at the painter, who was forced to back away in order to avoid the assault.

Instantly Yamato flipped back to his feet, only to see Naruto forming a spinning orb of chakra in Sai's hand. Knowing what was coming, the older man acted immediately and with a quick set of hand seals, wood shoot from the ground, wrapping itself around the painter, thus immobilizing him.

Upon getting trapped, Sai turned into surprised Naruto, while the other blonde somersaulted over him and pinned Yamato to the ground. Seeing an opening, the older boy, hiding in the bushes, drew a black snake on the scroll beneath his legs and with a quick set of hand seals, he called out: "Ninpou: Choujuu Gika!"

Right before Hinata's eyes the snake came to life and slipped out of the scroll, going straight at Naruto and Yamato. Upon reaching them, it wrapped itself around the two, trapping both. As it did so, the man's body turned into a wooden dummy with a cross on the place where his face should be, and a huge kanji for 'wrong' where the Leaf symbol should be located.

"What the hell?" Naruto yelled out loud. "Why did you wrapped me too? Untie me!" but to his great annoyance, Sai only turned around and with a simple 'he's over there', he disappeared, leaving trapped blonde behind: "Dammit Sai, untie me!"

A while later Sai came out of the forest, holding Yamato's hands behind the man's back. The captain's face remained calm, as he announced: "Well done, Sai. You got me and thus our exercise is over…" but before he could say anything else, Naruto stormed towards the painter and grabbed him by the shirt, for the first time since they left Konoha truly boiling.

"What?" Sai asked him with an emotionless face as he gazed at the hand that held his shirt. His eyes raised to look into the blonde's, while anger kept on growing inside the whisker-marks boy: "Have you ever heard of a word friend?" he asked with a deep voice, calming himself in the last moment before launching a fist into the older boy's face.

Sai simply reached to his pocket and picking out a small scroll, he wrote something on it. Upon turning it towards Naruto, the blonde realized it was a kanji for 'friend'. As his blue eyes traveled back to the painter's emotionless face again, the older boy spoke up: "Of course I have. What about it?" she asked, making Naruto's anger return, with full force. "You shouldn't blame others for your own weaknesses. Using Kage Bushin disguised as me and then using it to perform this big jutsu of yours… that gave everything away. At the very same moment, your plan had no chance of success and thus I found it useless to support your actions. I base my decision on what I think is best for my mission…"

Naruto's anger truly reached his peek. Hinata noticed her crush's eyes turn red for a split second, before he let go of Sai's shirt and turned his back towards the painter, as he announced, doing his best to hold back his anger: "I'll never accept you as a team member… nor as a friend!"

"Then what do you suppose Sasuke would do?" the older boy asked suddenly, putting his fake smile again. "Waste his chance and help you out because you're his friend and teammate? After everything, he's the one who betrayed the village and injured you… it wonders me how can you still call him your friend…"

"And what the hell do you know about companionship?" the blonde shoot back, turning around, his face still showing anger, yet his voice calm. "By the way you're acting I can tell you never thought of anyone more then as an acceptable sacrifice. I don't expect someone of your kind to understand this, however I can tell you this: to save a friend, I'll do anything, even work with you!"

"Well, you're right about one thing" Sai admitted, still smiling. "I don't understand why you're willing to go that far for someone such as that Uchiha…"

"The bond between them is deeper then you think" Sakura cut in, gaining the painter's attention, along with Hinata's. "Naruto thinks of Sasuke as a brother. That you should be able to understand, considering you have an older brother too" but to her surprise, Sai merely lowered his head slightly, before responding: "Not really… back then it was just us talking about titles of paintings… in actuality, I don't have any emotions at all…"

"You can't be serious, Sai-kun" Hinata interfered a little shyly. "When it comes to family… I mean, since you have a brother, you must be able to imagine how you'd feel if he died" she announced, to her surprise making the painter's fake smile disappear for a split second.

However it was back on his face in a flash as he replied after a moment of thought: "I guess… since my brother's already dead" and at this point the Hyuuga heiress eyes widen. She felt embarrassed for saying what she did and with the most comforting voice she could manage, she came to her companion with an attempt to put her hand on his should: "If so, there's no need for you to…" but she was broke off by the older boy:

"Would it be better if I showed a face like this?" he asked, showing something between a frown and worry. Silence felt among them, broken by Sai himself: "At the time my brother died, I truly didn't know what sort of face I should make" he announced, putting his backpack on again and following Naruto, who was already few meters away from the group.

Hinata gazed after the older boy, both sadness and worry showing on her face. She exchanged glances with Sakura and stayed like that, until Yamato announced it was time to move out.

---Some time later at the Heaven and Earth Bridge---

Naruto glanced at the huge, wooden bridge, hanging above what seemed to be a bottomless canyon. The passage between the supporting lines that held it in place went up from every end of the construction. The passage itself was wide enough for several people to stand next to each other and still would allow them to walk to the other side of the canyon.

Tens of lines, holding the bridge from both sides, were tied up one of two, even more massive ones, that went just few meters above the bridge's passage, hanging parallel to it. Those ropes were tied to huge trees located on both sides of the canyon and were supposed to keep the construction immobile, regardless to everything. The Kyuubi vessel also noticed black rails on both sides of the passage.

Kengo walked towards the center of the bridge, where a mysterious, hooded man stood. The man raised his head, revealing that he was actually a man in his twenties with silver hair and glasses. Naruto, who observed the whole scene from behind the rock in the distance, widen his eyes: "Impossible! Kabuto is that blonde bastard's spy?" and with that he leaned slightly forward, but to his great dismal, he heard nothing: "Dammit, the wind's too strong to catch what they're saying…"

"That's why we've been able to get this close, idiot" Sakura responded, glancing over at the Kyuubi vessel. "Sounds and smells are carried by the wind!" and as the two began arguing, Hinata suddenly shoot up with fear showing on her face. As the blonde looked at her with worry, she only called out from the bottom of her lungs: "Yamato-sensei, it's a trap!"

Upon hearing that, Kengo glanced in the direction the voice came, allowing Kabuto to unleash his kunai straight at the blonde. As a whistling sound reach his ears, the former leaf-nin strafed to his left, only to be caught by Orochimaru, who appeared out of nowhere and throwing his right hand towards released a net of snakes, which wrapped themselves around the boy.

In a flash Kengo's hands and legs got immobilized, while the snakes kept on moving up and upon reaching the neck, one of them bite it, making the blonde instantly turn into a wooden dummy. Seeing this Orochimaru narrowed his eyes as a wicked smile crossed his face: "_Kawarimi using mokuton ninjutsu… I wonder if this guy could be…?_"

"I was found out this soon, even though we only got to exchange few words?" Yamato asked, now settling his eyes on the two. Kabuto merely smirked, before replying: "Not quite… I'm not sure why you showed up here, pretending to be that boy, but our true objective was to get rid of Sasori" and at this point the leaf-nin's eyebrow went up, while the silver-haired boy continued: "I was one of Sasori's puppets and not so long ago he send me a message to meet him here…"

"I don't get it then" announced Yamato calmly. "If that is so, you should be still under Sasori's spell…"

"About that" Kabuto began, his devilish smile still not disappearing from his face. "Orochimaru-sama freed me from it quite a while ago… and after that, I've decided to become Orochimaru-sama's servant in order to show my respect to his magnificent way of thinking. I'm not under anyone's spell anymore. This is the path I choose myself. With you showing up, I don't suppose we can expect Sasori to appear… plus, we're not the only ones here, so how about you tell your companions to join us?"

Without a word, Yamato made a quick motion. In a flash the four shinobi jumped out of the bushes and landed between him and the two sound-nins, going into their fighting stances the moment they landed.

"Oh, even the Kyuubi is here" noticed Orochimaru with a playful smile as he licked his lips. "This may be interesting. How about we play a little game… I'll tell you, after all those years, who got stronger: you or Sasuke-kun…"

"Give Sasuke back!" the blonde yelled immediately, tightening his fists. At hearing this, Kabuto merely widen his smile: "I'm afraid you misunderstand the situation, Naruto-kun. This is not the matter of us giving anything back. Sasuke-kun came to us under his own, free will. If you want my opinion, you should get over it and start taking the past for what it is, as a real man would…"

"Or, if you want us to tell you about Sasuke-kun, how about forcing us to do so?" Orochimaru teased, making Naruto charge at him, picking out his kunai. As the blonde swung his knife at him, the legendary sennin jumped to his right, avoiding the attack, and releasing another snake from his sleeve, which this time jumped straight at the Kyuubi vessel's throat.

Acting on instinct, the whisker-marks tilted his head left and as the reptile flew next to it, he grabbed its tail, making it hiss madly. In a flash he spun the snake over his head and then tossed it straight at the surprised Kabuto, thus forcing him to jump back. It was then that Hinata stepped into action and threw her opened palm at the silver-haired boy's back.

Incapable of changing direction in the air, the sound-nin flipped and hit the girl's wrist from below, thus making her attack go right above his back. Upon coming to a sliding stop, he spun on his foot, aiming to swipe the white-eyed kunoichi off her feet, yet she managed to avoid the assault by grabbing Kabuto's shoulder and using it to lift herself up. As her body located itself parallel to the bridge, she twisted the medic's shoulder, delivering her knee into his face.

As he felt being blown away, the silver-haired boy grabbed the young Hyuuga by the ankle, thus making her lose her balance before landing and having her crush her face against the bridge as her rolled on it for few meters before coming to a stop.

Sakura joined the battle immediately and aimed a drop kick at the boy's head, yet the sound-nin managed to avoid the assault by jumped forward. In a flash he got back to his feet, picking out a kunai. Meanwhile the pink-haired kunoichi's foot crushed against the bridge, making it crumble a bit: "_Dammit, on such a battlefield I need to hold back, otherwise we'll all end up at the bottom of that canyon!_" she reminded herself, glad she didn't put much chakra into her last kick.

Hinata tried to stand up, but the instant she did so, intense pain shoot from her ankle, which brought her back to her knees. The white-eyed girl gazed surprised at her leg and only then did she realized what happened: "_My muscles! So that time, when he grabbed my ankle, he used chakra scalpel! This is not good! At this point I can't move freely!_"

Meanwhile Naruto kept charging at Orochimaru, unleashing a storm of attacks at the sound-nin. Upon forcing the sennin back, the blonde suddenly jumped forward and somersaulting in the process, he aimed a scissor kick at the man's neck. Surprised by this the Legendary Leaf didn't manage to dodge in time and in stead spit out a snake. As his body felt motionless to the ground after receiving the attack, the reptile opened its mouth, thus releasing Orochimaru out of its body, covered in strange liquid.

Unmoved by this, the Kyuubi vessel instantly spun on his foot and threw a punch straight into his opponent's stomach. As the attack connected, the Legendary sennin bended over due to the impact and opened his mouth, which seemed to be a gasp for air, yet in the next instant tens of snakes escaped his lips, each going after the blonde.

In a flash Naruto performed his standard technique, creating a clone, which appeared before him, thus blocking the snakes way. Instantly the bushin got wrapped by snakes, which started biting it all over, thus getting it dispelled. As white smoke covered the reptiles, the blonde quickly picked out another kunai and wrapping an explosive tag around it, he threw it in the pile a venomous creatures.

As the note exploded, sending snakes flying in every direction, the bridge shook again, making Orochimaru loose his balance. Naruto saw that as his chance and immediately jumped forward, forming a Rasengan in his right hand. As the spinning orb came closer, the Legendary Sennin leaned forward and to the blonde's surprise, his torso extended. While the attack went over him, the former leaf-nin twisted his upper body and wrapped it around the whisker-marks boy.

In a flash Orochimaru's grip tightened, making Naruto wince as pain shoot from his chest. A silent crack was heard, making the Legendary Leaf hiss with joy, once more licking his lips. Seeing this Yamato acted immediately and with a quick chain of hand seals, wooden spikes shoot from the bridge, each aiming to pierce through the missing-nin.

Instantly Orochimaru's mouth opened and hands came out of it. As they pushed something up, another Legendary Sennin flew right out of the old one, leaving him getting pierced by the spikes. As the body around him became flabby, Naruto broke loose and jumped at the rail. Bouncing off it, he came at the new sound-nin at an amazing speed, yet the former Leaf shinobi was ready.

With a quick spit Orochimaru's tongue shoot out, holding the handle of his katana. Being in mid-air, the blonde had no way to dodge. As his eyes widen, Hinata acted immediately and jumped towards him: "Naruto-kun!" she cried out as her elbow hit the Kyuubi vessel, thus pushing him out of the blade's way.

As the sword came closer, she released chakra from her body and tried to spin, yet sadly the foot she used was the same Kabuto grabbed and upon trying to spin, pain shoot through her leg, making her lose both her balance and concentration. As the chakra sphere around her vanished, her body went to her left, right before her right shoulder got cut by the katana.

The Hyuuga heiress took a single step back, hoping to keep her balance, but that proven to be a mistake as she bumped into the rail behind her and flipped over it. Before anyone managed to act she was already beneath the bridge, falling down at an incredible speed.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto only managed to yell as he ran towards the edge of the bridge and leaned over the supporting lines, yet the Hyuuga heiress figure already became a small dot and soon after it disappeared from his view in what seemed to be bottomless hole. The blonde's body began shaking as this as his grip on the line tightened to the extend his skin on his palms became red.

"Oh, I missed" commented Orochimaru with a wicked smirk as a pleased expression crossed his face. He licked his lips with an overly long tongue, while his smile widened. "I'm terribly sorry, Naruto-kun. Was that a friend of yours?" he asked teasingly and was about to add something, but then felt the air suddenly getting heavier. He knew this feeling, but for some reason, this time around it seemed way more frightening then how he remembered it. Or maybe it truly was different? It was hard to tell, but one thing was for sure: the killer intent was overwhelming.

"You think this is funny?" asked Naruto, without turning around, as his body shook even more. "Taking away lives like it's nothing… you really lost yourself, you freak. If the situation was a little different, I might've even pitied you, but you shouldn't count on that anymore. First Sasuke and now this… I'm done watching you taking everyone away from me and people I care about! This time I will not forgive!" and with that he turned to face the legendary sennin with his eyes shining red and his whisker-marks more visible then usual. His teeth turned into fangs as his nails grew in length.

Sakura took several steps back, horrified by the sight, while Sai merely gazed at the blonde, yet his face still shown no emotions, not even fake ones. Yamato narrowed his eyes at the sudden turn of events: "_This is not good! Releasing such a huge among of Kyuubi's chakra there's no way he'll manage to keep control! This is just like Jiraiya-sama described it!_"

"Orochimaru, I make you a promise" Naruto announced, making Sakura notice a change in his voice. It was much deeper then his usual one. And much more scary. "For everyone you killed… for everyone you hurt… and for doing what you did to Sasuke and Hinata… you will not leave here alive!"

_**---fury takes over Naruto… and his target's Orochimaru!---**_

And this concludes this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it and that you'll leave a review. It'd really make my day. Also, there was a technique used in this chappie, but considering that one's from the manga, I'll just give you a translation this time:

_Ninpou: Choujuu Gika_ (Ninja Art: Great Beast Mimic)

And that's that for now. Thanks for stopping by and reading. Best wishes and until next time!


End file.
